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The Spatial and Temporal Ecology of Seed Dispersal by Gorillas in Lopé

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The Spatial and Temporal Ecology of Seed Dispersal by Gorillas in Lopé Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Spring 4-29-2013 The pS atial and Temporal Ecology of Seed Dispersal by Gorillas in Lopé National Park, Gabon: Linking Patterns of Disperser Behavior and Recruitment in an Afrotropical Forest Marc Steven Fourrier Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Fourrier, Marc Steven, "The pS atial and Temporal Ecology of Seed Dispersal by Gorillas in Lopé National Park, Gabon: Linking Patterns of Disperser Behavior and Recruitment in an Afrotropical Forest" (2013). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 1043. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1043 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Anthropology Dissertation Examination Committee: Robert W. Sussman, Chair James M. Cheverud Michael Frachetti Tiffany Knight Jane Phillips-Conroy Peter Richardson The Spatial and Temporal Ecology of Seed Dispersal by Gorillas in Lopé National Park, Gabon: Linking Patterns of Disperser Behavior and Recruitment in an Afrotropical Forest by Marc Steven Fourrier A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 St. Louis, Missouri © 2013, Marc Steven Fourrier Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................................. X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................................. XI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................................... XII DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................................. XIV ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION .................................................................................................................. XV CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1 Seed Dispersal: An Overview .......................................................................................................... 1 Growth of the field ............................................................................................................... 3 Diffuse dispersal syndromes ............................................................................................... 6 The ecology of vertebrate-mediated seed dispersal ........................................................... 7 Advantages of seed dispersal strategies ............................................................... 7 The seed dispersal cycle ....................................................................................... 9 Seed dispersal modeling ................................................................................................... 14 Fruit Eating in Primates and Seed Dispersal ................................................................................. 15 Dispersal consequences of medium-bodied primates ...................................................... 17 Seed dispersal in the great apes ...................................................................................... 19 Seed removal by great apes ................................................................................ 19 Seed arrival benefits of great ape-mediated seed dispersal ............................... 20 Rationale for this Study .................................................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER II: MATERIALS AND METHODS ......................................................................................................... 24 The Study Site: Lopé National Park ............................................................................................... 24 Study location and climate ................................................................................................ 25 Physical characteristics ..................................................................................................... 26 ii Research history ............................................................................................................... 27 Vegetation ......................................................................................................................... 28 The vertebrate community ................................................................................................ 30 The Study Animals ......................................................................................................................... 32 Effective gorilla-mediated seed dispersal ......................................................................... 33 Seed Removal...................................................................................................... 35 Seed deposition sites and the fate of seeds ........................................................ 38 The Fruiting Plants ......................................................................................................................... 38 Specific Questions and Hypotheses .............................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER III: CORRELATES TO VARIATION IN THE FRUITING PHENOLOGIES OF THE GORILLA DIET .................... 43 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 43 Causality in phenological patterns .................................................................................... 44 Variation in the phenological patterns of tropical plants ................................................... 47 Gorilla responses to variations in fruit availability ............................................................. 48 Specific research questions .............................................................................................. 49 Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 50 Fruit resource sampling .................................................................................................... 50 Plant species traits ............................................................................................................ 51 Data analyses ................................................................................................................... 53 Species-level analysis .......................................................................................... 53 Community-level analysis .................................................................................... 58 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 62 Species-level patterns ....................................................................................................... 62 Circular variables and some general descriptions ............................................... 62 Phenology patterns in gorilla fruit species ........................................................... 70 Covariates to species-level phenology traits ....................................................... 74 iii Community-level patterns ................................................................................................. 76 Flowering .............................................................................................................. 76 Fruiting ................................................................................................................. 78 Ripe fruit abundance in Marantaceae forest ........................................................ 79 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 84 Flowering phenology ......................................................................................................... 85 Fruiting phenology............................................................................................................. 87 Gorilla responses to fruiting phenology schedules ........................................................... 88 CHAPTER IV: COMPOSITION AND CLUMPING OF SEEDS DISPERSED BY GORILLAS ........................................... 90 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 90 Gorilla-mediated seed aggregations ................................................................................. 91 Spatial
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