2016/09/21 by Flávia Delgado Santana, Fabrício Beggiato Baccaro, Flávia R. C. Costa · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant and animal studies #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Seed dispersal #Biology #Biological dispersal #Forest floor #Ecology #Omnivore #Frugivore #Invertebrate #Habitat #Predation #Ecosystem #Population
paper · doi:10.1086/688676
openalex publication_date 2016/09/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Among invertebrates, ants are the most abundant and probably most important seed dispersers in both temperate and tropical environments. Crickets, also abundant in tropical forests, are omnivores and commonly attracted to fruits on the forest floor. However, their capability to remove seeds has been reported only once. We compared Marantaceae seed removal by crickets and ants to assess the role of crickets as secondary seed dispersers in Amazonia. Compared with ants, crickets dispersed an equivalent number of seeds and tended to disperse larger seeds farther. However, seed removal by crickets occurs mostly at night, suggesting that removal of arillate seeds by crickets on the tropical forest floor is probably being overlooked or wrongly attributed to other invertebrate groups. One potential consequence of seed dispersal by crickets may be a change in the local spatial distribution of arillate-seed species, due to lower aggregation around ant nests.