Seed dispersal by animals and colonization of broad-leaved trees into conifer plantations

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Seed dispersal by frugivorous birds into the cedar plantation.The seeds of fruit-producing trees dropped to the ground just under and near the canopy of mother trees. Therefore, the dropping of these seeds was observed only in the area nearby the edge of the plantation and the border with the broad-leaved forest. However, the seeds were dispersed throughout the cedar plantation by feeding of fruits by frugivorous birds. The field census and the examination of contents of feces of captured birds in the field showed that the brown-eared bulbul was the most promising seed dispenser of fruit-producing trees in the study forest. They dispersed seeds of fruiting trees not only in the broad-leaved forest, the main seed source, but also in the surrounding areas of study site into the plantation. The distribution pattern of seeds dispersed by frugivorous birds in the plantation was partly determined by the pathway of the birds to and from the fruiting trees in the adjacent broad-leaved forest.D … More ispersal of gravelly-dispersed seeds (acorns) by granivorous mice.In the study forests, resident granivorous mice, Apodemus speciosus and A.argenteus, inhabits throughout the study period. The home ranges of some resident mice contained both the broad-leaved forest and the cedar plantation, suggesting that they usually utilize both types of forests as their habitat. Acorns of Pasania edulis, dominant tree species of the broad-leaved forest, dropped under the canopy or surrounding area of mother trees. Therefore, in the cedar plantation, P.edulis acorns dropped only in the adjacent areas to the broad-leaved forest. The acorns set on the floor of the board-leaved forest were transported and cached by the mice. They transported and cached about 1/4 to 1/2 of the acorns set on the forest floor into the cedar plantation. The spacing of cached acorns overlapped with the home ranges of resident mice that contained the release stations of the acorns. Same of the acorns cached by the mice escaped from predation by the mice till the next summer. Granivorous mice could play an important role in the colonization of tree species that produced gravelly-dispersed seeds into conifer plantations.Colonization into and establishment of seedlings and saplings of broad-leaved trees in the cedar plantation.In the cedar plantation, about 17,500 seedlings and saplings of 86 species of broad-leaved trees were recorded. These seedlings and saplings were distributed throughout the cedar plantation. But their density was higher in the area nearby the edge of the plantation and the border with the broad-leaved forest. The distribution patterns of seedlings and saplings of broad-leaved trees in the plantation might be affected by the seed production (masting) in the adjacent broad-leaved forest, acorn transportation by granivorous mice, and transportation of seeds by frugivorous birds into the plantation. Less