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Effects of varying forest edge permeability on seed dispersal in a neotropical montane forest

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Abstract

Hard (high-contrast with pastures) and soft (low-contrast with old-fields) forest edges created by slash-and-burn agriculture have become common landscape features in regions dominated by neotropical montane forest. However, little is know about the impacts of such edge types on forest regeneration dynamics. The consequences of varying forest edge permeability for oak acorn dispersal were investigated in a forest mosaic in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Rates of acorn production and removal, as well as the abundance and composition of small mammal seed consumers, were monitored along these different edge types (hard vs. soft) at specific distances from forest edges into forest patches and adjacent grasslands during two consecutive years. Results show that acorn removal declined significantly only in grasslands of sites characterised by hard edges (Logistic regression, P  <  0.05). Movements of metal-tagged acorns support the hypothesis that soft edges are more permeable to small mammals, with rodents moving acorns up to 15 m into grasslands of sites with soft edges. In sites with hard edges, higher rates of acorn dispersal were recorded from the forest edge towards the forest interior. Peromyscus spp. were the main acorn predators and/or dispersers of acorns present in our study sites. Rates of acorn removal during a non-masting year were greater than the subsequent mast-seeding year (85% removal within 138 days vs. 75% within 213 days), demonstrating that mast seeding may allow some seeds to escape predation. The implications of these results for oak dispersal and regeneration along edges in fragmented tropical forest landscapes are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank to C. Legg, B. Haines, N. Ramírez-Marcial, M. Steele, D. Golicher, and P. Quintana-Ascencio who offered valuable comments during the research. We are extremely grateful to the many people who helped with the fieldwork, including: M. Martínez-Icó, A. Luna-Gómez and Y. Barrera-López. Thanks to O. Retana who offered support in rodents identification and C. Lorenzo who kindly allowed me to use her live traps for small mammals and to the owners of the study plots in Bazom. ECOSUR provided the fieldwork facilities. CONACYT and The British Council provided a scholarship to F. López-Barrera (ref. no. 131197 and MEX2900177, respectively). Additional financial support was provided by the European Commission under the INCO-DC programme (framework 4) as part of the SUCRE (ERBIC-18 CT 97-0146) and the BIOCORES projects (PL ICA4-2000-10029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Darwin Building, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JU, Scotland, United Kingdom

    Fabiola López-Barrera

  2. Department of Functional Ecology, Institute of Ecology (INECOL, AC), Km 2.5 Carretera Antigua a Coatepec No. 351, Congregación El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, 91070, México

    Fabiola López-Barrera & Robert H. Manson

  3. Department of Terrestrial Ecology and Systematics, Biodiversity Conservation Division, The College of the Southern Borderlands (ECOSUR), San Cristóbal de Las Casas, P.O. Box 63, 29200, Chiapas, México

    Mario González-Espinosa

  4. School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, United Kingdom

    Adrian C. Newton

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  1. Fabiola López-Barrera
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  2. Robert H. Manson
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  3. Mario González-Espinosa
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Correspondence to Fabiola López-Barrera.

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López-Barrera, F., Manson, R.H., González-Espinosa, M. et al. Effects of varying forest edge permeability on seed dispersal in a neotropical montane forest. Landscape Ecol 22, 189–203 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-006-9020-3

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