Milton Suzanne J
FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, 7700, Rondebosch, South Africa.
Oecologia. 1991 Jul;87(2):279-287. doi: 10.1007/BF00325267.
The prediction that spinescence in plants increases with aridity, soil fertility and mammalian herbivory was examined at regional and local scales in southern Africa. Spinescence tended to increase with aridity. Within arid areas, vegetation of moist, nutrient-rich habitats was more spinescent than that of the surrounding dry plains. Spinescence in plants of drainage lines and pans in arid southern Africa occurs in a wide range of genera and appears to have been selected by the effect of large mammals which concentrate on these moist patches. It is concluded that spinescence may be selected by breakage as well as herbivory, and that in arid areas moisture may be important in mediating mammalian selection of spinescence.
在非洲南部的区域和地方尺度上，对植物的多刺性随干旱、土壤肥力和哺乳动物食草作用而增加这一预测进行了检验。多刺性往往随干旱加剧而增加。在干旱地区，湿润、营养丰富栖息地的植被比周围干旱平原的植被多刺性更强。干旱的南部非洲排水线和水洼处植物的多刺性存在于多种属中，似乎是由集中在这些湿润地块的大型哺乳动物的影响所选择的。得出的结论是，多刺性可能是由破损以及食草作用所选择的，并且在干旱地区，水分在介导哺乳动物对多刺性的选择方面可能很重要。
