TY  - JOUR
A1  - Türke, Manfred
A1  - Andreas, Kerstin
A1  - Gossner, Martin M.
A1  - Kowalski, Esther
A1  - Lange, Markus
A1  - Boch, Steffen
A1  - Socher, Stephanie A.
A1  - Müller, Jörg
A1  - Prati, Daniel
A1  - Fischer, Markus
A1  - Meyhöfer, Rainer
A1  - Weisser, Wolfgang W.
T1  - Are gastropods, rather than ants, important dispersers of seeds of myrmecochorous forest herbs?
JF  - The American naturalist : a bi-monthly journal devoted to the advancement and correlation of the biological sciences
N2  - Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is widespread, and seed adaptations to myrmecochory are common, especially in the form of fatty appendices (elaiosomes). In a recent study, slugs were identified as seed dispersers of myrmecochores in a central European beech forest. Here we used 105 beech forest sites to test whether myrmecochore presence and abundance is related to ant or gastropod abundance and whether experimentally exposed seeds are removed by gastropods. Myrmecochorous plant cover was positively related to gastropod abundance but was negatively related to ant abundance. Gastropods were responsible for most seed removal and elaiosome damage, whereas insects (and rodents) played minor roles. These gastropod effects on seeds were independent of region or forest management. We suggest that terrestrial gastropods can generally act as seed dispersers of myrmecochorous plants and even substitute myrmecochory, especially where ants are absent or uncommon.
KW  - myrmecochory
KW  - gastropodochory
KW  - Arion
KW  - slug
KW  - seed dispersal
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1086/663195
SN  - 0003-0147
VL  - 179
IS  - 1
SP  - 124
EP  - 131
PB  - Univ. of Chicago Press
CY  - Chicago
ER  -