Artículos de revistas
Solanaceae composition, pollination and seed dispersal syndromes in neotropical Mountain Cloud Forests
Registro en:
Interciencia. Interciencia, v. 31, n. 11, n. 807, n. 816, 2006.
0378-1844
WOS:000243086500007
Autor
Albuquerque, LB
Velazquez, A
Vasconcellos-Neto, J
Institución
Resumen
In general, it is widely accepted that polination and seed dispersal syndromes are fundamental to understand colonization and regeneration of ecosystems. This paper analyzed the floristic composition of Solanacea and their polination and seed dispersal syndromes of Mountain Cloud Forests from equivalent regions from Mexico and Brazil. It was argued that similar functional processes are to be found at physiognomically similar forests from equivalent regions. Both regions shared a similar number of Solanacea species (Mexico 25 and Brazil 26) but differed drastically in their composition. In Mexico it was found that disturbance and humidity were best correlated with current distribution and abundance patterns, whereas for Brazil elevation and humidity played a most relevant role. In both regions melitophilia was found as the dominant polination syndrome. However, seed dispersal differs since in Mexico Solanaceae are mainly dispersed by birds; whereas bats are the seed dispersal agents in Brazil. These results support the evidence that the diversification center of birds is mainly restricted to Central America, while in South America bats play this role. In short, Solanaceae seem to have coadapted their seed dispersal syndromes to the available bird and bat dispersers in each region. 31 11 807 816