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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (09): 2602-2608.

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Facilitation and limitation on plant recruitment by animal dispersers.

LI Ning, WANG Zheng, PAN Yang, BAI Bing, LU Chang-hu   

  1. (College of Forest Resources and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China).
  • Online:2012-09-18 Published:2012-09-18

Abstract: In plant-animal network, seed dispersers play both facilitation and limitation roles on plant recruitment. This paper summarized the effects of the dispersers foraging and spatial utilization behaviors on plant recruitment at population level, and analyzed the dispersal effectiveness of the dispersers in the facilitation and limitation on plant recruitment at community level. Different food-treating behaviors of animal dispersers have decisive role on the fate of seeds, and the seed fate has interspecific difference. The role of plants in animal dietary also determines the plants recruitment fate. When preferred by animal dispersers, the seeds can escape the impact of forest fragmentation. The spatial behavior of the dispersers can cause seed fate change. Whether the dispersers’ movement distance can escape the distance limitation of conspecific adults determines the seed recruitment. The spatial concordance between the animal suitable habitat and the plant recruitment habitat directly affects the dispersal efficiency. The non-redundancy of effective dispersers not only leads the seed dispersal network to be more stable, but also benefits plant recruitment. Ineffective dispersal of the dispersers limits plant recruitment, but supplies suitable chance for other plants olonization. Future researches should incorporate the animal behavior in plant recruitment researches, and to explore the roles of animal dispersers in vegetation recovery from the aspect of ecosystem service should be the focus in the study of restoration ecology.