Lambert J E, Garber P A
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA.
Am J Primatol. 1998;45(1):9-28. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2345(1998)45:1<9::AID-AJP3>3.0.CO;2-#.
In this paper, we evaluate patterns of fruit eating and seed dispersal in monkeys and apes and draw an important distinction between 1) the ecological consequences of primates as seed dispersers and 2) the evolutionary implications of primates on the seed and fruit traits of the plant species they exploit. In many forest communities, primates act as both seed predators and seed dispersers and are likely to have an important ecological impact on patterns of forest regeneration and tree species diversity. Evidence from Kibale National Park, Uganda, and Manu National Park, Peru, as well as several other South American sites indicates that monkeys and apes display a wide range of fruit-processing behaviors, including spitting seeds, dropping seeds, masticating seeds, and swallowing seeds. Differences in consumer body size, diet, ranging patterns, and oral and digestive morphology result in different patterns in the distance and distribution of seeds from the parent plant. In the case of South American monkeys, for example, despite their relatively small body size, platyrrhines were found to exploit larger fruits and swallow larger seeds on average than did Old World monkeys and apes of the Kibale forest. We found little evidence to support the existence of a coevolutionary relationship between a single or set of primate dispersers and the particular plant species they disperse. This is due to variability in the manner in which monkeys and apes select fruits and treat seeds, the fact that many species of primates and nonprimates exploit and disperse the same fruit species, and the fact that extremely high levels of postdispersal seed, seedling, and sapling mortality serve to dilute the influence that any primate species may have on the recruitment of the next generation of adult trees. It is apparent that many primate lineages exhibit dental, digestive, and/or sensory adaptations that aid in the exploitation of particular food types and that many lineages of flowering plants have evolved characteristics of fruits and seeds that facilitate seed dispersal. However, in light of currently available data, we argue that these represent evolutionary rather than more strictly defined coevolutionary relationships.
在本文中，我们评估了猴子和猿类的果实食用及种子传播模式，并对以下两点做出了重要区分：1）灵长类作为种子传播者的生态后果；2）灵长类对它们所利用的植物物种的种子和果实特征的进化影响。在许多森林群落中，灵长类既充当种子捕食者，也充当种子传播者，并且很可能对森林更新模式和树种多样性产生重要的生态影响。来自乌干达基巴莱国家公园、秘鲁马努国家公园以及其他几个南美地区的证据表明，猴子和猿类表现出广泛的果实处理行为，包括吐出种子、掉落种子、咀嚼种子和吞咽种子。消费者体型、饮食、活动范围模式以及口腔和消化形态的差异导致种子与母株之间的距离和分布呈现出不同模式。例如，就南美猴子而言，尽管它们体型相对较小，但与基巴莱森林的旧世界猴子和猿类相比，阔鼻猴被发现平均食用更大的果实并吞咽更大的种子。我们几乎没有找到证据支持单一或一组灵长类传播者与其所传播的特定植物物种之间存在协同进化关系。这是由于猴子和猿类选择果实及处理种子的方式存在变异性，许多灵长类和非灵长类物种利用和传播相同果实物种这一事实，以及种子传播后极高的种子、幼苗和幼树死亡率会削弱任何灵长类物种对下一代成年树木补充可能产生的影响。很明显，许多灵长类谱系表现出有助于利用特定食物类型的牙齿、消化和/或感官适应性，并且许多开花植物谱系已经进化出便于种子传播的果实和种子特征。然而，鉴于目前可得的数据，我们认为这些代表的是进化关系，而非更严格定义的协同进化关系。
