Secondary Metabolites Of Fleshy Vertebrate‐Dispersed Fruits: Adaptive Hypotheses And Implications For Seed Dispersal

We discuss seven hypotheses to explain the adaptive significance of secondary metabolites in ripe fleshy fruits and their implications for seed dispersal. These hypotheses are the attraction/association, seed germination inhibition, attraction/repulsion, protein assimilation, gut retention time, dir...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 1997-09, Vol.150 (3), p.346-372
Main Authors: Cipollini, Martin L., Levey, Douglas J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birds
Chemical ecology
Fruits
Metabolites
Plants
Seed dispersal
Seed germination
Solanum
Toxicity
Toxins
Vertebrates
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Summary:We discuss seven hypotheses to explain the adaptive significance of secondary metabolites in ripe fleshy fruits and their implications for seed dispersal. These hypotheses are the attraction/association, seed germination inhibition, attraction/repulsion, protein assimilation, gut retention time, directed toxicity, and defense trade‐off hypotheses. We examine evidence that supports or refutes these hypotheses and suggest further tests of each. In addition, we summarize recent work withSolanumfruit pulp glycoalkaloids that bears directly on three of these hypotheses (directed toxicity, gut retention time, and defense trade‐off). We conclude that evidence addressing many of these hypotheses is either observational or indirect, but most hypotheses find at least some level of support. Because many of the hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, we also conclude that synergistic interactions and multifunctionality in secondary metabolites may provide economical evolutionary solutions for plants facing disparate and temporally variable selective pressures that impinge on fruits and seeds.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/286069