Frugivore-mediated selection on fruit and seed size: birds and St. Lucie's cherry, Prunus mahaleb

• Published in: Ecology (Durham) 1995-12, Vol.76 (8), p.2627-2639
• Main Author: Jordano, Pedro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; ANIMAL SALVAJE; ANIMAL SAUVAGE; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Autoecology; Aves; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; BIRDS; BUSQUEDA DE ALIMENTO; DIMENSION; DIMENSIONS; DISEMINACION DE SEMILLAS; Dispersal; DISSEMINATION DES GRAINES; Ecological genetics; Ecology; Ecosystems; Environmental aspects; ESPAGNE; ESPANA; Evolution; Fecundity; FENOTIPOS; FORAGING; Frugivores; frugivorous birds; Fruit crops; fruit size; FRUITS; FRUTAS; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; FURGIVOROUS BIRDS; GROSSEUR DES SEMENCES; MUTUALISM; Mutualism (Biology); OISEAU; PAJAROS; PHENOTYPE; PHENOTYPES; phenotypic selection; Phenotypic traits; Plants; Plants and fungi; PRUNUS; Prunus mahaleb; RECHERCHE DE NOURRITURE; SEED DISPERSAL; seed mass; SEED SIZE; Seeds; SELECCION; SELECTION; SIMBIOSIS; SPAIN; SYMBIOSE; SYMBIOSIS; TAMANO DE LA SEMILLA; WILD ANIMALS
• ISSN: 0012-9658; 1939-9170
• DOI: 10.2307/2265833

Frugivorous birds consumed >75% of the ripe fruits of a Prunus mahaleb population in southeastern Spain, but only half of the seed crop was successfully removed from parent plants by legitimate seed dispersers. For two consecutive years, I studied the sign and magnitude of phenotypic selection exerted by frugivorous birds on fruit size and seed mass, two key traits in this mutualistic plant-seed disperser interaction. Individual plants showed extensive phenotypic variation in these traits, but among-individual variation accounted for