Latest News Latest News

El Laboratorio de Isótopos Estable busca personal técnico de apoyo

La duración del contrato es de 3 años. El plazo de solicitud se cierra el 14 de diciembre. Consulta los requisitos.

Last weeks’ rains flood only 1.8 % of the Doñana marshes

These values are slightly below average for these dates. The areas with the greatest flooding are El Rocío and los Sotos.
The recovery of the Santa Olalla lagoon is slow, with only 9,6% of its...

New Kenyan volcano toad species reveals hidden evolution of African amphibians

Its genetic and morphological differences from other known toad species have led to its recognition at the genus level

The new species’ presence suggests we may need to rethink the...

Darwin’s finches are not completely adapted to their environment

Almost two decades of scientific research in the Galapagos Islands concludes that a diverse landscape favours the evolution and persistence of different species of Darwin's finches. The...

Las hormigas contribuyen en el control de la plaga de la polilla del olivar

Para este estudio han desarrollado un método que permite averiguar el papel de diferentes especies en el control de plagas.

Más allá de los resultados obtenidos para la especie Tapinoma...

Asset Publisher Asset Publisher

Back

Angiosperm seeds lacking external flesh can be adapted for endozoochory

Angiosperm seeds lacking external flesh can be adapted for endozoochory

It is often assumed that only plants with a fleshy fruit disperse inside vertebrate guts, i.e. by "endozoochory". However, only 8% of European angiosperms have a fleshy fruit, and endozoochory of other plants by herbivorous or granivorous birds and mammals is widespread in nature. Many terrestrial and aquatic plants disperse via endozoochory by migratory waterbirds, providing long-dispersal dispersal. But how do they survive gut passage? Is the mechanical resistance to digestion different to that recorded in fleshy-fruited plants? Using SEM and 11 plants we compared seed morphology before and after gut passage through mallards. Diverse seed and dry fruit architecture provided multiple mechanisms to resist digestion and so enable seed survival. There are no fundamental differences in the way that these seeds, or those from fleshy-fruited plants, survive gut passage. Both plant types are pre-adapted for endozoochory and for seed dispersal mutualisms. informacion[at]ebd.csic.es: Costea et al (2019) The Effect of Gut Passage by Waterbirds on the Seed Coat and Pericarp of Diaspores Lacking "External Flesh": Evidence for Widespread Adaptation to Endozoochory in Angiosperms. PLoS ONE 14(12): e0226551


https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226551