Dispersal by animals

Snails disperse the small seeds of a very few plant species (e.g., Adoxa). Earthworms are more important as seed dispersers. Many intact fruits and seeds can serve as fish bait, those of Sonneratia, for example, for the catfish Arius maculatus. Certain Amazon River fishes react positively to the audible “explosions” of the ripe fruits of Eperua rubiginosa. Fossil evidence indicates that saurochory is very ancient. The giant Galapagos tortoise is important for the dispersal of local cacti and tomatoes. The name alligator apple for Annona palustris refers to its method of dispersal, an example of saurochory. Many birds and mammals, ranging in size from mice and kangaroo rats to elephants, eat and disperse seeds and fruits. In the tropics, chiropterochory (dispersal by large bats such as flying foxes, Pteropus) is particularly important. Fruits adapted to these animals are relatively large and drab in colour, with large seeds and a striking (often rank) odour. Such fruits are accessible to bats because of the pagoda-like structure of the tree canopy, fruit placement on the main trunk, or suspension from long stalks that hang free of the foliage. Examples include mangoes, guavas, breadfruit, carob, and several fig species. In South Africa, a desert melon (Cucumis humifructus) participates in a symbiotic relationship with aardvarks—the animals eat the fruit for its water content and bury their own dung, which contains the seeds, near their burrows. Furry terrestrial mammals are the agents most frequently involved in epizoochory, the inadvertent carrying by animals of dispersal units. Burrlike seeds and fruits, or those diaspores provided with spines, hooks, claws, bristles, barbs, grapples, and prickles, are genuine hitchhikers, clinging tenaciously to their carriers. Their functional shape is achieved in various ways—in cleavers, or goose grass (Galium aparine), and enchanter’s nightshade (Circaea lutetiana), the hooks are part of the fruit itself; in common agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria), the fruit is covered by a persistent calyx (the sepals, parts of the flower, which remain attached beyond the usual period) equipped with hooks; in wood avens (Geum urbanum), the persistent styles have hooked tips. Other examples are bur marigolds, or beggar’s-ticks (Bidens species); buffalo burr (Solanum rostratum); burdock (Arctium); Acaena; and many Medicago species. The last-named, with dispersal units highly resistant to damage from hot water and certain chemicals (dyes), have achieved wide global distribution through the wool trade. A somewhat different principle is employed by the so-called trample burrs, said to lodge themselves between the hooves of large grazing mammals. Examples are mule grab (Proboscidea) and the African grapple plant (Harpagophytum). In water burrs, such as those of the water nut Trapa, the spines should probably be considered as anchoring devices.


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