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Ecology

A shrike for mobility

Nature volume 397, pages 21–23 (1999)Cite this article

Getting from one place to another is a problem for a plant. One of the most efficient solutions is to wrap seeds in an attractive, preferably tasty, envelope and so encourage gluttonous animals to transport them. Wandering frugivores may thus become inadvertent vehicles of plant migration, but they could also find themselves the target of higher predators — so what then is the fate of the fruits? Is this where the story ends for the passively mobile plant? Apparently not. Work on fruit-eating lizards from the Canary Islands by Nogales, Delgado and Medina1, reported in the Journal of Ecology, shows that viable seeds can be ingested by the predator with its prey and taken to further destinations, thus adding a new dimension to dispersal.

The effectiveness of seed dispersal by passing through animal guts (endozoochory) is widely recognized, and illustrations abound. Telegraph poles and wires over open grassy plains can be the first stage in colonization by trees, as their avian seed vectors find somewhere to perch2. Migratory birds may carry plants considerable distances, as in the case of snow buntings (Plectrophenaz nivalis) collected on the island of Surtsey off Iceland. The gizzards of these birds contained many seeds, including those of the bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), which must have been consumed in Britain3. So, defecation or death of seed-eating migratory birds can result in colonization and spread of plants to new regions, depending on how long the seeds have been in the gut, their final germination potential, and the speed and direction of bird movement.

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References

  1. Nogales, M., Delgado, J. D. & Medina, F. M. J. Ecol. 86, 866– 871 (1998).

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  2. van der Pijl, L. Principles of Dispersal in Higher Plants (Springer, Berlin, 1982).

  3. Fridriksson, S. Surtsey (Wiley, New York, 1975).

  4. Whittaker, R. J. & Jones, S. H. J. Biogeogr. 21, 245–258 (1994).

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  5. Cendsky, E. J., Hodge, K. & Dudley, J. Nature 395, 556 ( 1998).

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  6. Snow, B. & Snow, D. Birds and Berries (T. & A. D. Poyser, Calton, 1988).

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  1. The Division of Life Sciences, Kings College, Campden Hill Road, London, W8 7AH, UK

    Peter D. Moore

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  1. Peter D. Moore
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Moore, P. A shrike for mobility. Nature 397, 21–23 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16148

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