Effects of Small Rodent and Large Mammal Exclusion on Seedling Recruitment in Costa Rica |
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|---|---|
| Author | |
| DeMattia, E.A.; Rathcke, B.J.; Curran, L.M.; Aguilar, R.; Vargas, O. | |
| Year | |
| 2006 | |
| Secondary Title | |
| Biotropica | |
| Volume | |
| 38 | |
| Pages | |
| 196-202 | |
| Abstract | |
| We examined whether the experimental exclusion of large mammalian and small rodent seed predators had differing effects on seedling recruitment under natural seed rain conditions. In both primary and late-successional secondary forested areas, exclosure experiments using natural seed densities were designed to assess seedling recruitment. To assess the differences in seedling recruitment, we monitored three exclosure treatments (1.2 m radius/1.5 m height) in two forest types (primary vs. late-successional secondary forest): (1) fenced exclosures that excluded large mammals; (2) fenced exclosures that excluded both large and small mammals; and (3) open controls. Within each exclosure treatment, we marked and identified all seedlings at the beginning of the experiment (February 2001), followed the marked seedlings' fate for a year, and then marked and identified all new seedlings after a year. Two preliminary findings were generated from these data: for some tree species, small rodents and large mammals have differential effects on seedling recruitment, and the effect of excluding mammals did not differ with habitat type (primary vs. late-successional secondary forest). These preliminary results highlight the need to examine further how the effects of small rodent and large mammal exclusion may affect species-specific seed predation and seedling recruitment in a variety of habitat/land use types (e.g., primary forest, late-successional forest, and early-successional forest). | |
| DOI | |
| 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2006.00117.x | |
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