Resumen

LASSO, Eloisa  y  BARRIENTOS, Lucas Santiago. EPIZOOCHORY IN DRY FOREST GREEN IGUANA: AN OVERLOOKED SEED DISPERSAL MECHANISM?. Colomb. for. [online]. 2015, vol.18, n.1, pp.151-159. ISSN 0120-0739.  https://doi.org/10.14483/udistrital.jour.colomb.for.2015.1.a09.

The role of animals as seed dispersal vectors, including dispersal by reptiles (saurochory), is widely acknowledged. Most reports of saurochory have been via endozoochory through feces deposition. We present the first evidence of epizoochory in Iguana iguana from Tatacoa dry forest in Colombia via seeds attached to the snout. Our results show that seeds of Melocactus curvispinus ingested by iguana suffer from their passage through the digestive tract while seeds transported while attached to the snout germinate faster and in higher numbers. Our data suggest that we may have overlooked an alternative means of seed dispersal by lizards that do not comprise a passage through their digestive tract, and that deserves further attention for the understanding of dry forest ecology.

Palabras clave : epizoochory; Iguana iguana; Melocactus curvispinus; saurochory; Tatacoa; tropical dry forest.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )