Bird-Dispersed Seed Rain and Seedling Establishment in Patchy Mediterranean Vegetation

The composition and spatial patterns of the seed rain produced by bird dispersers and of the seedlings of fleshy-fruited plants have been studied in patchy Mediterranean vegetation in southern France. The seeds of fleshy-fruited plants were collected in seed traps during a 17-month period (1981-1983) and the fecal samples of bird dispersers mist-netted on the same 2.5-ha site over a 25-month period (1981-1984) were analysed. The locations of the 5 sets of seed traps and the 6 mist-nets were chosen in order to take into account the various plant communities and the successional gradient from old fields to Quercus ilex coppice. Seedling establishment of fleshy-fruited plants was censused in 1983 adjacent to the seed traps. In 1992 seedlings were again censused in the open coppice and in the old fields (...)