Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction

[EN] During the last 24 years, the mutualistic interaction between the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus, and the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, was studied on Aire Island (Balearic Islands, Spain). From a small population of a hundred plants, the dead horse arum expanded extraordinaril...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Pérez Cembranos, Ana, Pérez Mellado, Valentín
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repositorio:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/155715
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/155715
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Podarcis lilfordi
Lacertidae
islands
Balearic
seed dispersal
endozoochory
mutualism
24 Ciencias de la vida
2401.16 Herpetología
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oai_identifier_str oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/155715
network_acronym_str ES
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repository_id_str
spelling Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant InteractionPérez Cembranos, AnaPérez Mellado, ValentínPodarcis lilfordiLacertidaeislandsBalearicseed dispersalendozoochorymutualism24 Ciencias de la vida2401.16 Herpetología[EN] During the last 24 years, the mutualistic interaction between the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus, and the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, was studied on Aire Island (Balearic Islands, Spain). From a small population of a hundred plants, the dead horse arum expanded extraordinarily throughout the island, reaching the highest known densities of the species and occupying areas of the island where it was not previously present. The current abundance of plants is a direct effect of the frugivorous activity of the Balearic lizard, which is the main, if not the only, effective seed disperser of the plant on Aire Island. However, abiotic factors predominated over biotic factors in driving abundance of plants. Over the years, plant densities varied significantly depending on the aridity of the island, with higher densities recorded in drier years. Lizards’ frugivorous activity and dispersal intensity was inversely correlated with annual rainfall. We found higher dispersal intensity in years with lower rainfall. We propose that the years of lower rainfall are those in which there is a lower prey availability. In such years, lizards compensate the shortage of other trophic resources with a more intense consumption of dead horse arum fruits. The mutualistic interaction is therefore asymmetric, since there is a greater influence of the frugivorous activity of the lizards on the plants than of the plants on lizards. It is, in short, a system chronically out of balance.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; Fondos FEDER; Institut Menorquí d'EstudisMDPI202420242023info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10366/155715reponame:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamancainstname:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)InglésREN2003 08432 CO2 02CGL2009-12926-C02-02CGL2012-39850-CO2-02CGL2015-68139-C2-2-PAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:gredos.usal.es:10366/1557152026-06-07T06:28:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
title Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
spellingShingle Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
Pérez Cembranos, Ana
Podarcis lilfordi
Lacertidae
islands
Balearic
seed dispersal
endozoochory
mutualism
24 Ciencias de la vida
2401.16 Herpetología
title_short Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
title_full Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
title_fullStr Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
title_full_unstemmed Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
title_sort Long-Term Seed Dispersal within an Asymmetric Lizard-Plant Interaction
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Pérez Cembranos, Ana
Pérez Mellado, Valentín
author Pérez Cembranos, Ana
author_facet Pérez Cembranos, Ana
Pérez Mellado, Valentín
author_role author
author2 Pérez Mellado, Valentín
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Podarcis lilfordi
Lacertidae
islands
Balearic
seed dispersal
endozoochory
mutualism
24 Ciencias de la vida
2401.16 Herpetología
topic Podarcis lilfordi
Lacertidae
islands
Balearic
seed dispersal
endozoochory
mutualism
24 Ciencias de la vida
2401.16 Herpetología
description [EN] During the last 24 years, the mutualistic interaction between the dead horse arum, Helicodiceros muscivorus, and the Balearic lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, was studied on Aire Island (Balearic Islands, Spain). From a small population of a hundred plants, the dead horse arum expanded extraordinarily throughout the island, reaching the highest known densities of the species and occupying areas of the island where it was not previously present. The current abundance of plants is a direct effect of the frugivorous activity of the Balearic lizard, which is the main, if not the only, effective seed disperser of the plant on Aire Island. However, abiotic factors predominated over biotic factors in driving abundance of plants. Over the years, plant densities varied significantly depending on the aridity of the island, with higher densities recorded in drier years. Lizards’ frugivorous activity and dispersal intensity was inversely correlated with annual rainfall. We found higher dispersal intensity in years with lower rainfall. We propose that the years of lower rainfall are those in which there is a lower prey availability. In such years, lizards compensate the shortage of other trophic resources with a more intense consumption of dead horse arum fruits. The mutualistic interaction is therefore asymmetric, since there is a greater influence of the frugivorous activity of the lizards on the plants than of the plants on lizards. It is, in short, a system chronically out of balance.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10366/155715
url http://hdl.handle.net/10366/155715
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv REN2003 08432 CO2 02
CGL2009-12926-C02-02
CGL2012-39850-CO2-02
CGL2015-68139-C2-2-P
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
instname:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
instname_str Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
reponame_str GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
collection GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300724

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