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. 2019 Jul 25;9(1):10356.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46683-x.

Small Neotropical primates promote the natural regeneration of anthropogenically disturbed areas

Eckhard W Heymann  1 , Laurence Culot  2   3   4 , Christoph Knogge  2 , Andrew C Smith  5 , Emérita R Tirado Herrera  2   6 , Britta Müller  2   7 , Mojca Stojan-Dolar  2 , Yvan Lledo Ferrer  2   8 , Petra Kubisch  2   9 , Denis Kupsch  2   10 , Darja Slana  2 , Mareike Lena Koopmann  2   11 , Birgit Ziegenhagen  12 , Ronald Bialozyt  12   13 , Christina Mengel  12 , Julien Hambuckers  14   15 , Katrin Heer  12
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Small Neotropical primates promote the natural regeneration of anthropogenically disturbed areas

Eckhard W Heymann et al. Sci Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Increasingly large proportions of tropical forests are anthropogenically disturbed. Where natural regeneration is possible at all, it requires the input of plant seeds through seed dispersal from the forest matrix. Zoochorous seed dispersal - the major seed dispersal mode for woody plants in tropical forests - is particularly important for natural regeneration. In this study, covering a period of more than 20 years, we show that small New World primates, the tamarins Saguinus mystax and Leontocebus nigrifrons, increase their use of an anthropogenically disturbed area over time and disperse seeds from primary forest tree species into this area. Through monitoring the fate of seeds and through parentage analyses of seedlings of the legume Parkia panurensis from the disturbed area and candidate parents from the primary forest matrix, we show that tamarin seed dispersal is effective and contributes to the natural regeneration of the disturbed area.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Temporal patterns of secondary forest use by the tamarins. (a) Long-term pattern (yearly means), corrected for uneven representation of months and potential seasonal variation. (b) Yearly pattern (●: monthly means; whiskers: monthly minima and maxima). Blue dots: months with ≥250 mm of rainfall; orange dots: months with <250 mm of rainfall.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Use of secondary forest in months with ≥250 mm of rainfall and <250 mm of rainfall. ●: means; ○: outliers; *extremes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Parkia panurensis seedling. ©Eckhard W. Heymann, 2016.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Locations of seedlings and juveniles (green triangles) in the secondary forest and of candidate parents (grey dots) in the primary forest. Coordinates are UTM–WGS 84 for cell 18. (b) Enlarged view of the position of seedlings and juveniles. The number indicates the location of two seedlings at the same GPS position.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distances between Parkia panurensis seedlings and juveniles and the near and distant candidate parent.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Satellite image of EBQB and surrounding areas. formula image: location of the field station; formula image: secondary forest area. (a) 2011; (b) 2018. Source: Google Earth.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Typical vegetation in secondary forest at EBQB. Foto ©Eckhard W. Heymann, 2010.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Vegetation cover of primary and secondary forest at EBQB. Grey bars: primary forest; black bars: secondary forest. Reproduced with permission from.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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