Effects of Seed Predation by Ants on Seedling Densities at a Woodland Site in SE Australia
Effects of Seed Predation by Ants on Seedling Densities at a Woodland Site in SE Australia
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蚂蚁捕食种子对澳大利亚东南部林地幼苗密度的影响
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发表时间：
1987
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
A. Andersen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Andersen
到目前为止，蚂蚁是澳大利亚东南部林地上最重要的散布后种子捕食者，它们会迅速从地面上清除许多种子。本文利用种子密度和蚂蚁种群的实验操作，研究了蚂蚁捕食种子对桉树和木麻黄幼苗招募的可能影响。当落下的种子很少时，就像通常在没有火的情况下发生的那样，蚂蚁的消失导致白花蛇舌兰的苗木密度增加了15倍，其种子被取出的速度特别快。被蚂蚁移走的细毛虫的种子不那么快，蚂蚁消灭后苗木密度的增加对这个物种来说不那么明显。在高密度下倾倒种子，模拟火灾后木质水果大量释放种子，导致捕食者饱和，与对照组相比，产生了更多的幼苗。这些结果表明，在没有火的情况下，蚂蚁对种子的捕食限制了幼苗的招募，而捕食者的饱足感在火灾后的成功招募中起着重要作用。
Ants are by far the most important post-dispersal seed predators at a woodland site in SE Australia, and they rapidly remove many seeds from the ground. This paper uses experimental manipulations of seed densities and ant populations to examine the likely impact of seed predation by ants on seedling recruitment in Eucalyptus baxteri and Casuarina pusilla. When seedfall was light, as usually occurs in the absence of fire, the elimination of ants resulted in a 15-fold increase in seedling densities for E. baxteri, whose seeds are removed at particularly high rates. Seeds of C. pusilla are removed less rapidly by ants, and increases in seedling densities following ant elimination were less marked for this species. Experimental dumpings of seeds at high densities, simulating the massive release of seeds from woody fruits which occurs following fire, resulted in predator satiation and in comparison to controls produced high numbers of seedlings. These results suggest that seed predation by ants limits seedling recruitment in the absence of fire, and that predator satiation plays an important role in successful recruitment following fire.