12 research outputs found
Adaptive Evolution of the Myo6 Gene in Old World Fruit Bats (Family: Pteropodidae)
PMCID: PMC3631194This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Olfaction in the fruit-eating bats Artibeus lituratus and Carollia perspicillata: an experimental analysis
Feeding ecology of the Green-cheeked parakeet (Pyrrhura molinae) in dry forests in western Brazil
Small nutrient molecules in fruit fuel efficient digestion and mutualism with plants in frugivorous bats
Sex-specific traits in Common Tern Sterna hirundo chicks: associations with rearing environment, parental factors and survival
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Land use history and population dynamics of free-standing figs in a maturing forest
<div><p>Figs (<i>Ficus</i> sp.) are often considered as keystone resources which strongly influence tropical forest ecosystems. We used long-term tree-census data to track the population dynamics of two abundant free-standing fig species, <i>Ficus insipida</i> and <i>F</i>. <i>yoponensis</i>, on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), a 15.6-km<sup>2</sup> island in Lake Gatún, Panama. Vegetation cover on BCI consists of a mosaic of old growth (>400 years) and maturing (about 90–150 year old) secondary rainforest. Locations and conditions of fig trees have been mapped and monitored on BCI for more than 35 years (1973–2011), with a focus on the Lutz Catchment area (25 ha). The original distribution of the fig trees shortly after the construction of the Panama Canal was derived from an aerial photograph from 1927 and was compared with previous land use and forest status. The distribution of both fig species (~850 trees) is restricted to secondary forest. Of the original 119 trees observed in Lutz Catchment in 1973, >70% of <i>F</i>. <i>insipida</i> and >90% of <i>F</i>. <i>yoponensis</i> had died by 2011. Observations in other areas on BCI support the trend of declining free-standing figs. We interpret the decline of these figs on BCI as a natural process within a maturing tropical lowland forest. Senescence of the fig trees appears to have been accelerated by severe droughts such as the strong El Niño event in the year 1982/83. Because figs form such an important food resource for frugivores, this shift in resource availability is likely to have cascading effects on frugivore populations.</p></div