VERTEBRATES AS POTENTIAL DISPERSERS OF PALM TREES IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Forest fragments contain representative biodiversity and work as refuges for many species of animals. These environments have plants as palm trees, which are important resources for many species of animals that promote the movement of the seeds when consume their fruits. Palm trees of the genus Attalea and Astrocaryum are often abundant in some amazonian forest fragments. However, little is known about animals that consume their fruits. The objective of this work was to identify the animals that consume fruits of Attalea maripa and Astrocaryum aculeatum. The study was carried out in an urban tropical forest fragment in Manaus, Brazil. The observations were made from July to September of 2018 with binoculars, camera traps and photographic camera. The camera traps were installed in one A. aculeatum tree and eight A. maripa trees for 24 hours each. We recorded 11 species of animals (primates, rodents, marsupials, and birds) feeding on the fruits. The fruits were consumed near the mother trees. No predated seeds were found. The mammals corresponded to the majority (73%) of the animals that consumed the fruits. On the other hand, despite the minority (27%), birds also used such resources. Most of large-bodied seed dispersers no longer exist in the studied fragment, but the species identified in our study benefit and may be fundamental for the dispersion of seeds.