Negative effect of removing pulp from unripe fleshy fruits: seed germination pattern of Celtis sinensis in relation to the temporal context of fruit consumption

Published Date
August 2014, Volume 19, Issue 4, pp 411–416

Short Communication

First Online: 

14 December 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s10310-013-0430-1

Cite this article as: 

Yoshikawa, T. & Isagi, Y. J For Res (2014) 19: 411. doi:10.1007/s10310-013-0430-1

Author

• Tetsuro YoshikawaEmail author
• Yuji Isagi

Abstract

We explored the temporal effects of fruit consumption on the subsequent seed germination pattern of a fleshy-fruited tree, the Chinese hackberry (Celtis sinensis). Via nursery-based sowing experiments, we investigated (1) how pulp removal affected seed germination patterns at the different stages of fruit maturation, and (2) how the timing of seed dispersal (August, October, and December) affected the germination patterns of seeds from ripe fruits after the removal of pulp. We found that the removal of pulp from around the seeds of ripe fruit had no effect on the percentage and timing of germination. In contrast, the removal of pulp from seeds of unripe fruits largely reduced the germination percentage. The time of sowing did not affect the germination percentage, whereas the timing of germination was delayed for seeds that were sown later or under shaded environments.

References 

1. Barnea A, Yom-Tov Y, Friedman J (1991) Does ingestion by birds affect seed germination? Funct Ecol 5:394–402CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Burrows CJ (1995) Germination behaviour of seeds of the New Zealand species Fuchsia excorticata, Griselinia littoralis, Macropiper excelsum, and Melicytus ramiflorus. NZ J Bot 33:131–140CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Burrows CJ (1997) Reproductive ecology of New Zealand forests: 2. Germination behaviour of seeds in varied conditions. NZ Nat Sci 23:53–69Google Scholar
4. Cipollini ML, Levey DJ (1997) Secondary metabolites of fleshy vertebrate-dispersed fruits: adaptive hypotheses and implications for seed dispersal. Am Nat 150:346–372PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Field Science Education and Research Center of Kyoto University (2007) Meteorological observations in the Kyoto University Forests. Field Science Education and Research Center of Kyoto University, KyotoGoogle Scholar
6. Fukui AW (1995) The role of the brown-eared bulbul Hypsypetes amaurotis as a seed dispersal agent. Res Popul Ecol 37:211–218CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Gorchov DL (1985) Fruit ripening asynchrony is related to variable seed number in Amelanchier and Vaccinium. Am J Bot 72:1939–1943CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Greenberg CH, Smith LM, Levey DJ (2001) Fruit fate, seed germination and growth of an invasive vine—an experimental test of “sit and wait” strategy. Biol Invasions 3:363–372CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Izhaki I, Safriel UN (1990) The effect of some Mediterranean scrubland frugivores upon germination patterns. J Ecol 78:56–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Katsuta M, Mori T, Yokoyama T (1998) Seeds of woody plants in Japan: angiospermae. Japan Forest Tree Breeding Association, Tokyo (in Japanese)
11. Koike S, Masaki T (2008) Frugivory of carnivora in Central and Southern parts of Japan analyzed by literature search. J Jpn For Soc 90:26–35 (in Japanese with English abstract)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Krefting LW, Roe EI (1949) The role of some birds and mammals in seed germination. Ecol Monogr 19:269–286CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. McCarty J, Levey DJ, Greenberg CH, Sargent S (2002) Spatial and temporal variation in fruit use by wildlife in a forested landscape. For Ecol Manag 164:277–291CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Meyer GA, Witmer MC (1998) Influence of seed processing by frugivorous birds on germination success of three North American shrubs. Am Midl Nat 140:129–139CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Okamoto M, Kitajima A (1988) Growth and ripening patterns in the fruits of several indigenous bird-dispersed plants cultivated in Nagai Botanic Garden (Preliminary report). Bull Osaka Mus Nat Hist 12:1–13 (in Japanese with English abstract)Google Scholar
16. Panetta FD (2001) Seedling emergence and seed longevity of the tree weeds Celtis sinensisand Cinnamomum camphora. Weed Res 41:83–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Robertson AW, Trass A, Ladley JJ, Kelly D (2006) Assessing the benefits of frugivory for seed germination: the importance of the deinhibition effect. Funct Ecol 20:58–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Samuels IA, Levey DJ (2005) Effects of gut passage on seed germination: do experiments answer the questions they ask? Funct Ecol 19:365–368CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Satake Y, Hara H, Watari S, Tominari T (1989) Wild flowers of Japan. Woody plants, vol. 1–2. Heibonsha, Tokyo (in Japanese)Google Scholar
20. Soto-Gamboa M, Bozinovic F (2002) Fruit-disperser interaction in a mistletoe-bird system: a comparison of two mechanisms of fruits processing on seed germination. Plant Ecol 159:171–174CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Tang AMC, Corlett RT, Hyde KD (2005) The persistence of ripe fleshy fruits in the presence and absence of frugivores. Oecologia 142:232–237PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
22. Traveset A, Robertson AW, Rodríguez-Pérez J (2007) A review on the role of endozoochory on seed germination. In: Dennis AJ, Schupp EW, Green RJ, Westcott DA (eds) Seed dispersal: theory and its application in changing word. CABI, Wallingford, pp 78–103Google Scholar
23. Traveset A, Rodríguez-Pérez J, Pías B (2008) Seed trait changes in dispersers’ guts and consequences for germination and seedling growth. Ecology 89:95–106PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Wang BC, Smith TB (2002) Closing the seed dispersal loop. Trends Ecol Evol 17:379–386CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25. Willson MF, Whelan CJ (1990) The evolution of fruit color in fleshy-fruited plants. Am Nat 136:790–809CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Yagihashi T (2001) Effects of bird ingestion on seed germination of arboreal plants in Hokkaido, Japan. Res Bull Hokkaido Univ For 58:37–59 (in Japanese with English abstract)Google Scholar
27. Yagihashi T, Hayashida M, Miyamoto T (1998) Effects of bird ingestion on seed germination of Sorbus commixta. Oecologia 114:209–212CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28. Yagihashi T, Hayashida M, Miyamoto T (1999) Effects of bird ingestion on seed germination of two Prunus species with different fruit-ripening seasons. Ecol Res 14:71–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29. Yoshikawa T, Kikuzawa K (2009) Pre-dispersal seed predation by a granivorous bird, the masked grosbeak (Eophona personata), in two bird-dispersed Ulmaceae species. J Ecol Field Biol 32:137–143CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30. Yoshikawa T, Isagi Y, Kikuzawa K (2009) Relationships between bird-dispersed plants and avian fruit consumers with different feeding strategies in Japan. Ecol Res 24:1301–1311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31. Yoshikawa T, Masaki T, Isagi Y, Kikuzawa K (2012) Interspecific and annual variation in pre-dispersal seed predation by a granivorous bird in two East Asian hackberries, Celtis biondiiand Celtis sinensis. Plant Biol 15:506–514CrossRefGoogle Scholar

For further details log on website :
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10310-013-0430-1

An easy, accurate and efficient procedure to create forest fire risk maps using the SEXTANTE plugin Modeler

Published Date
December 2016, Volume 27, Issue 6, pp 1361–1372

Original Paper

First Online: 

03 June 2016

DOI: 10.1007/s11676-016-0267-5

Cite this article as: 

Duarte, L. & Teododo, A.C. J. For. Res. (2016) 27: 1361. doi:10.1007/s11676-016-

Author 

• Lia Duarte
• Ana Cláudia Teododo

Abstract 

To prevent, detect, and protect against forest fires, forest personnel need to define rules for determining forest fire risk. In Portugal, all municipalities must annually produce forest fire risk (FFR) maps. To produce more reliable FFR maps more easily, we developed an open source model using the Modeler plugin of SEXTANTE in the program QGIS version 2.0 Dufour. The model provides all the maps involved in the FFR model (susceptibility map, hazard map, vulnerability map, economic value map, and potential loss map) and was produced according to Portuguese Forest Authority’s (AFN, Autoridade Florestal Nacional) rules for determining the FFR. This model was tested for the Portuguese municipality Santa Maria da Feira, where 40 % of the total municipality area falls in the category “very high” or “high” fire risk. The “very high” fire risk area is mainly classified as broad-leaved forest and has the steepest slopes (>15 %). The distance of burned areas to roads was also analyzed; the proportion of burned areas increased with increasing distance to the main roads. In addition, 92.6 % of the “high” and “very high” risk zones were located in areas with lower elevation. These results confirmed that forest fire is strongly influenced not only by environmental factors but also by anthropogenic factors. The procedure implemented here was compared with our open source application already available in QGIS and also to the same procedure implemented in GIS proprietary software. Although the results were obviously the same, the model developed here presents several advantages over the other two approaches. Besides being faster, it is easy to change the model parameters according to user needs (i.e., to the rules of different countries), and can be modified and adapted to other variables and other areas to create risk maps for different natural phenomena (e.g., floods, earthquakes, landslides). The model is easy to use and to create risk and hazard maps rapidly in a free, open source environment that does not require any programming knowledge.

References 

1. Castro FX, Tudela A, Sebastia MT (2003) Modelling moisture content in shrubs to predict fire risk in Catalonia (Spain). Agric For Meteorol 116:49–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Catry F, Rego F, Bacao F, Moreira F (2009) Modelling and mapping wildfire ignition risk in Portugal. Int J Wildland Fire 18(8):921–931CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Chen D, Shams S, Carmona-Moreno C, Leone A (2010) Assessment of open GIS software for water resources management in developing countries. J Hydro Environ Res 4:253–264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Chuvieco E, Congalton RG (1989) Application of remote sensing and geographic information systems to forest fire hazard mapping. Remote Sens Environ 29:147–159CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Chuvieco E, Salas FJ (1996) Mapping the spatial distribution of forest fire danger using GIS. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 10:333–345CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Chuvieco E, Aguado I, Yebra M, Nieto H, Salas J, Martín MP, Vilar L, Martínez J, Martín S, Ibarra P, Riva J, Baeza J, Rodríguez F, Molina JR, Herrera MA, Zamora R (2010) Development of a framework for fire risk assessment using remote sensing and geographic information system technologies. Ecol Model 221:46–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. DFCI (2008) Plano Municipal da Defesa da Floresta Contra Incêndios [online]. Technical report. http://www.icnf.pt/portal/florestas/dfci/planos-dfci. Accessed Mar 2014
8. Dıaz-Delgado R, Lloret F, Pons X (2004) Spatial patterns of fire occurrence in Catalonia, NE, Spain. Landsc Ecol 19(7):731–745CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Duguy B, Alloza JÁ, Baeza MJ, Riva JD, Echeverrı M, Ibarra P, Llovet J, Cabello, Rovira FP, Ramon VV (2012) Modelling the ecological vulnerability to forest fires in Mediterranean ecosystems using geographic information technologies. Environ Manag 50:1012–1026CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Gould JS, McCaw W, Cheney NP (2011) Quantifying fine fuel dynamics and structure in dry eucalypt forest (Eucalyptus marginata) in western Australia for fire management. For Ecol Manag 262(3):531–546CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. GRASS GIS (2014) The world’s leading free GIS software. http://grass.osgeo.org/grass64/manuals/v.surf.rst.html. Accessed April 2014
12. Jaehoon J, Changjae K, Shanmuganathan J, Seongsam K, Soohee H, Dong HK, Joon H (2013) Forest fire risk mapping of Kolli Hills, India, considering subjectivity and inconsistency issues. Nat Hazards 65:2129–2146CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Johnson EA (1992) Fire and vegetation dynamics: studies from the North American boreal forest. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeCrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Kushla JD, Ripple WJ (1997) The role of terrain in a fire mosaic of a temperate coniferous forest. For Ecol Manag 95:97–107CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Lloret F, Calvo E, Pons X, Diaz-Delgado R (2002) Wildfires and landscape patterns in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula. Landsc Ecol 17(8):745–759CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. Malowerschnig B, Sass O (2013) Long-term vegetation development on a wildfire slope in Innerzwain (Styria, Austria). J For Res 25(1):103–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. Marques S, Borges JG, Garcia-Gonzalo J, Moreira F, Carreiras JMB, Oliveira MM, Cantarinha A, Botequim B, Pereira JC (2011) Characterization of wildfires in Portugal. Eur J For Res 130(5):775–784CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Mermoz M, Kitzberger T, Veblen TT (2005) Landscape influences on occurrence and spread of wildfires in Patagonian forests and shrublands. Ecology 86:2705–2715CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Mohammadi F, Bavaghar MP, Shabanian N (2014) Forest fire risk zone modeling using logistic regression and GIS: an Iranian case study. Small Scale For 13:117–125CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Moreira F, Rego FC, Ferreira PG (2001) Temporal (1958–1995) pattern of change in a cultural landscape of northwestern Portugal: implications for fire occurrence. Landsc Ecol 16:555–567Google Scholar
21. Moretti M, Obrist MK, Duelli P (2004) Arthropod biodiversity after forest fires: winners and losers in the winter fire regime of the southern Alps. Ecography 27:173–186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22. Nelson RM Jr (2001) Water relations of forest fuels. In: Johnson E, Miyanishi K (eds) Forest fires. Behaviour and ecological effects. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 79–149Google Scholar
23. Pausas JP, Llovet J, Rodrigo A, Vallejo R (2008) Are wildfires a disaster in the Mediterranean basin: a review. Int J Wildland Fire 17(6):713–723CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Peragón JM, Delgado A, Pérez-Latorre FJ (2015) A GIS-based quality assessment model for olive tree irrigation water in southern Spain. Agric Water Manag 148:232–240CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25. Pereira MG, Trigo RM, DaCamara CC, Pereira JMC, Leite SM (2005) Synoptic patterns associated with large summer forest fires in Portugal. Agric For Meteorol 129:11–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Rodriguez-Trejo DA, Fulé PZ (2003) Fire ecology of Mexican pines and fire management proposal. Int J Wildl Fire 12:23–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27. Romero-Calcerrada R, Barrio-Parra F, Millington JDA, Novillo CJ (2010) Spatial modelling of socioeconomic data to understand patterns of human- caused wildfire ignition risk in the SW of Madrid (central Spain). Ecol Model 221:34–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28. SAGA (2014) System for automated geoscientific analyses [online]. http://www.saga-gis.org/. Accessed April 2014
29. Sebastian-Lopez A, Salvador-Civil R, Gonzalo-Jimenez J, SanMiguel-Ayanz J (2008) Integration of socio-economic and environmental variables for modelling long-term fire danger in Southern Europe. Eur J For Res 127:149–163CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30. SEXTANTE (2013) The SEXTANTE framework. http://www.sextantegis.com/. Accessed April 2014
31. Silva JS, Moreira F, Vaz P, Catry F, Godinho-Ferreira P (2009) Assessing the relative fire proneness of different forest types in Portugal. Plant Biosyst 173(3):597–608CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32. Sivrikaya F, Sağlam B, Akay AE, Bozali B (2014) Evaluation of forest fire risk with GIS. Pol J Environ Stud 23(1):187–194Google Scholar
33. Stallman P (2007) Why ‘open source’ misses the point of free software [online]. GNU operating system. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-sourcemisses-the-point.html. Accessed March 2014
34. Stephenson NL (1998) Actual evapotranspiration and deficit: biologically meaningful correlates of vegetation distribution across spatial scales. J Biogeogr 25:855–870CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35. Swetnam TW (1993) Fire history and climate change in giant sequoia groves. Science 262:885–889CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar
36. Teodoro AC, Duarte L (2013) Forest fire risk maps: a GIS open source application—a case study in Norwest of Portugal. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 27(4):699–720CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37. Van Wagner CE (1977) Effect of slope on fire spread. Canadian Forest Services. Bimon Res Notes 33:7–8Google Scholar
38. Viney NR (1991) A review of fine fuel moisture modelling. Int J Wildl Fire 1:215–223CrossRefGoogle Scholar
39. Westerling AL, Gershunov A, Brown TJ, Cayan DR, Dettinger MD (2003) Climate and wildfire in the western United States. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 84:595–604CrossRefGoogle Scholar

For further details log on website :
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11676-016-0267-5