Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird?
We hypothesise that the spiny fruits of the endemic Madagascar genus Uncarina (Pedaliaceae) are trample burrs that evolved to be dispersed on the feet of the extinct elephant bird (Aepyornis). Our evidence is: i) the morphology of the fruit with its large grapple hooks is more likely to attach to a...
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doaj-69a3cd7285a247749618a4a956e9507a2021-04-03T15:47:31ZengAcademy of Science of South AfricaSouth African Journal of Science1996-74892010-02-0110511/12Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird?J. Midgley0N. Illing1Department of Botany, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701We hypothesise that the spiny fruits of the endemic Madagascar genus Uncarina (Pedaliaceae) are trample burrs that evolved to be dispersed on the feet of the extinct elephant bird (Aepyornis). Our evidence is: i) the morphology of the fruit with its large grapple hooks is more likely to attach to a foot than to adhere to fur and ii) the presentation of mature fruits on the ground rather than in the canopy. These differences to adhesive burrs make lemurs unlikely dispersers. We argue, given the absence of other large terrestrial mammals in Madagascar, that the most likely dispersers of Uncarina fruits were the extinct large birds. If correct, our hypothesis has implications for conservation of Uncarina, the biogeography of the elephant birds and dispersal biology. For example, we predict that the demography of Uncarina will be skewed towards adult plants, and that the dispersal mutualism could possibly be rescued by domestic animals.http://192.168.0.115/index.php/sajs/article/view/10020 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
J. Midgley N. Illing |
spellingShingle |
J. Midgley N. Illing Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? South African Journal of Science |
author_facet |
J. Midgley N. Illing |
author_sort |
J. Midgley |
title |
Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
title_short |
Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
title_full |
Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
title_fullStr |
Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Were Malagasy Uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
title_sort |
were malagasy uncarina fruits dispersed by the extinct elephant bird? |
publisher |
Academy of Science of South Africa |
series |
South African Journal of Science |
issn |
1996-7489 |
publishDate |
2010-02-01 |
description |
We hypothesise that the spiny fruits of the endemic Madagascar
genus Uncarina (Pedaliaceae) are trample burrs that evolved to be
dispersed on the feet of the extinct elephant bird (Aepyornis). Our
evidence is: i) the morphology of the fruit with its large grapple
hooks is more likely to attach to a foot than to adhere to fur and
ii) the presentation of mature fruits on the ground rather than in the
canopy. These differences to adhesive burrs make lemurs unlikely
dispersers. We argue, given the absence of other large terrestrial
mammals in Madagascar, that the most likely dispersers of
Uncarina fruits were the extinct large birds. If correct, our hypothesis
has implications for conservation of Uncarina, the biogeography
of the elephant birds and dispersal biology. For
example, we predict that the demography of Uncarina will be
skewed towards adult plants, and that the dispersal mutualism
could possibly be rescued by domestic animals. |
url |
http://192.168.0.115/index.php/sajs/article/view/10020 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT jmidgley weremalagasyuncarinafruitsdispersedbytheextinctelephantbird AT nilling weremalagasyuncarinafruitsdispersedbytheextinctelephantbird |
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