TY - JOUR

T1 - Soil seed banks near rubbing trees indicate dispersal of plant species into forests by wild boar

AU - Heinken, Thilo

AU - Schmidt, Marcus

AU - Kriebitzsch, Wolf-Ulrich

AU - von Oheimb, G

AU - Ellenberg, Hermann

N1 - Literaturverz. S. 43 - 44

PY - 2006/1/2

Y1 - 2006/1/2

N2 - Current knowledge about processes that generate long-distance dispersal of plants is still limited despite its importance for persistence of populations and colonization of new potential habitats. Today wild large mammals are presumed to be important vectors for long-distance transport of diaspores within and between European temperate forest patches, and in particular wild boars recently came into focus. Here we use a specific habit of wild boar, i.e. wallowing in mud and subsequent rubbing against trees, to evaluate epizoochorous dispersal of vascular plant diaspores. We present soil seed bank data from 27 rubbing trees versus 27 control trees from seven forest areas in Germany. The mean number of viable seeds and the plant species number were higher in soil samples near rubbing trees compared with control trees. Ten of the 20 most frequent species were more frequent, and many species exclusively appeared in the soil samples near rubbing trees. The large number of plant species and seeds - more than 1000 per tree - in the soils near rubbing trees is difficult to explain unless the majority were dispersed by wild boar. Hooked and bristly diaspores, i.e. those adapted to epizoochory, were more frequent; however, many species with unspecialized diaspores occurred exclusively near rubbing trees. As opposed to plant species closely tied to forests species which occur both in forest and open vegetation and non-forest species were more frequent near rubbing trees compared with controls. These findings are consistent with previous studies on diaspore loads in the coats and hooves of shot wild boars. However, our method allows to identify the transport of diaspores from the open landscape into forest stands, where they might especially emerge after disturbance, and a clustered distribution of epizoochorically dispersed seeds. Moreover, accumulation of seeds of wetness indicators near rubbing trees demonstrates directed dispersal of plant species inhabiting wet places among remote wallows.

AB - Current knowledge about processes that generate long-distance dispersal of plants is still limited despite its importance for persistence of populations and colonization of new potential habitats. Today wild large mammals are presumed to be important vectors for long-distance transport of diaspores within and between European temperate forest patches, and in particular wild boars recently came into focus. Here we use a specific habit of wild boar, i.e. wallowing in mud and subsequent rubbing against trees, to evaluate epizoochorous dispersal of vascular plant diaspores. We present soil seed bank data from 27 rubbing trees versus 27 control trees from seven forest areas in Germany. The mean number of viable seeds and the plant species number were higher in soil samples near rubbing trees compared with control trees. Ten of the 20 most frequent species were more frequent, and many species exclusively appeared in the soil samples near rubbing trees. The large number of plant species and seeds - more than 1000 per tree - in the soils near rubbing trees is difficult to explain unless the majority were dispersed by wild boar. Hooked and bristly diaspores, i.e. those adapted to epizoochory, were more frequent; however, many species with unspecialized diaspores occurred exclusively near rubbing trees. As opposed to plant species closely tied to forests species which occur both in forest and open vegetation and non-forest species were more frequent near rubbing trees compared with controls. These findings are consistent with previous studies on diaspore loads in the coats and hooves of shot wild boars. However, our method allows to identify the transport of diaspores from the open landscape into forest stands, where they might especially emerge after disturbance, and a clustered distribution of epizoochorically dispersed seeds. Moreover, accumulation of seeds of wetness indicators near rubbing trees demonstrates directed dispersal of plant species inhabiting wet places among remote wallows.

KW - Biology

KW - diaspore morphology

KW - directed dispersal

KW - epizoochory

KW - Long-distance dispersal

KW - Sus scrofa

KW - Temperate forest

KW - wallow

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=28744441561&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/e5098f0a-a9cb-3968-bff8-a3ca47f22fd0/

U2 - 10.1016/j.baae.2005.04.006

DO - 10.1016/j.baae.2005.04.006

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 7

SP - 31

EP - 44

JO - Basic and Applied Ecology

JF - Basic and Applied Ecology

SN - 1439-1791

IS - 1

ER -