Destacados
- La Fundación Jaime González-Gordon ofrece cuatro becas para el desarrollo de Trabajos de Fin de Máster sobre Doñana
- Cinco contratos para desarrollar la tesis doctoral en la Estación Biológica de Doñana - CSIC
- Actividades de la Estación Biológica de Doñana en la Noche Europea de los Investigadores
- La ICTS-RBD se prepara para la 30ª Campaña de Anillamiento de Paseriformes Migratorios en Doñana
- Inicio procedimiento nueva dirección EBD-CSIC
Noticias
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- Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular
- Laboratorio SIG y Teledetección (LAST)
- Laboratorio de Ecología Química
- Laboratorio de Ecología Acuática
- Laboratorio de Ecofisiología
- Laboratorio de Isótopos Estables
- Unidad de Experimentación Animal
- Visita virtual
- Unidad de Seguimiento
- Laboratorio de Camaras climaticas