Frugivoria por Tapirus terrestris em três regiões do Pantanal, Brasil

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus 1758) is the largest terrestrial Neotropical mammal. Its diet consists of leaves, fruits and buds, and it is able to ingest seeds without damaging them; enhancing, in this way, seed dispersion. The aim of this study was to determine the tapirs diet, evaluate its contribution for seed dispersion and the differences in the composition of its diet between riparian forests and habitats away from rivers in the Pantanal. We collected 263 fecal samples in the Nhumirim Ranch from January to December 2008 and 33 in Abobral, Negro and Vermelho rivers from June and July of 2008. Among the total fecal samples collected, we identified 63 species of seeds. In the Nhumirim Ranch, we identified 54 species, distributed in 19 families of plant. Solanum viarum (42%), Mimosa sp. (31%) and Psidium sp. (32%) were the most common species. Twelve of these species had germinating seeds directly in the feces and 15 had damaged seeds. The feces were composed on average by 9.5% of seeds and 90.5% of fibers. More seeds were consumed in the rainy than in dry season (t = 7733, p <0001). The direct species ordination showed a pattern of replacement of species, following the phenology of most plant species consumed. The Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) recovered in two dimensions (stress = 0.207 and R = 0.792) the main patterns of variation in the composition of fecal samples collected in the Nhumirim Ranch and Abobral, Negro and Vermelho rivers June and July. The samples collected in rivers tended to group themselves. The diet composition of T. terrestris varied according to the place of study. Due to the great diversity of species and the large quantity of seeds consumed, this result suggests that tapir must have a key role in the dynamics of plant community in the area, both by the potential dispersal of seeds as by seed predation.

ASSUNTO(S)

diet ecologia feeding ecology dispersão sementes ecologia alimentar anta dieta tapirus terrestris seed dispersal tapir

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