Traveset Anna, Nogales Manuel, Vargas Pablo, Rumeu Beatriz, Olesen Jens M, Jaramillo Patricia, Heleno Ruben
Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), C/ Miquel Marqués 21, Esporles, Mallorca 07190, Balearic Islands, Spain.
Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group (CSIC-IPNA), Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología, 38206 Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Integr Zool. 2016 May;11(3):207-13. doi: 10.1111/1749-4877.12187.
The role of the most common land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus) in the Galápagos Islands as an effective seed disperser is explored in this study. A total of 5705 seeds of 32 plant species were identified from 160 scats, 4545 of which (80%) appeared visually undamaged. Germination trials of 849 seeds from 29 species revealed that at least 10 species remained viable after passing through the iguana's gut, although only a small proportion of those seeds (4%) germinated. In any case, we argue that C. subcristatus exerts an important role on the 7 Galapagos islands where it occurs because of its abundance and capacity to ingest and disperse seeds at long distances. Our results strongly suggest that the Galápagos C. subcristatus plays an important role as a seed disperser of not only of native species but also some introduced plants in the Galápagos Islands.
本研究探讨了加拉帕戈斯群岛上最常见的陆鬣蜥（Conolophus subcristatus）作为有效种子传播者的作用。从160份粪便中鉴定出32种植物的5705颗种子，其中4545颗（80%）外观未受损。对29种植物的849颗种子进行的发芽试验表明，至少有10种植物的种子在经过鬣蜥肠道后仍具活力，尽管只有一小部分种子（4%）发芽。无论如何，我们认为，由于其数量众多以及有能力远距离摄取和传播种子，Conolophus subcristatus在其分布的7个加拉帕戈斯岛屿上发挥着重要作用。我们的研究结果有力地表明，加拉帕戈斯的Conolophus subcristatus不仅在本地物种的种子传播中，而且在加拉帕戈斯群岛一些外来植物的种子传播中都发挥着重要作用。
