Titre |
Morphology and phenology of seeds and whole fruit eaten by Milne-Edwards' sifaka, Propithecus diadema edwardsi, in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. |
Descripteur géographique |
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Titre de la série |
International Journal of Primatology. |
Résumé |
Although seeds were destroyed in both exploitation styles used by the sifakas-seed and whole fruit-eating-the gross morphology of species used as seed sources conformed to the complex of traits typical for fruits experiencing seed predation, while species used as whole fruit sources conformed to traits typical for fruits that do not experience predispersal predation. Many of the 19 plant species from which the seed was extracted and eaten contained a single seed with moderate testa thickness, and fruits containing this type of seed were medium-sized with dry or fibrous flesh, moderate skin thickness, and a dull color. In contrast, brightly colored, juicy fruits with minimally protected seeds were characteristic of the 38 plant species from which both pericarp and seed were eaten. Compared to transectwide measures of fruit availability or patterns restricted to whole fruit sources, fewer species of seed sources produced fruit per month and fruiting activity was more seasonal. |