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31 Mar 2011: Report
by sharon levy
As Larger Animals Decline, Forests Feel Their Absence
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/as_larger_ ... ence/2381/With giant tortoises, elephants, and other fruit-eating animals disappearing from many of the world’s tropical woodlands, forests are suffering from the loss of a key function performed by these creatures: the dispersal of tree seeds. But a new experiment shows that introduced species may be able to fulfill this vital ecological role.
The island of Mauritius was settled by Dutch sailors in the 1600s. Within a few decades, all the large, native fruit-eating animals, or frugivores, had been driven to extinction. The lost included not only the famous flightless dodo, but also a giant lizard and two species of tortoise. The demise of these creatures reverberated through the island’s ecosystem, affecting fruiting plants that had co-evolved with the local frugivores and relied on them to spread their seeds onto fertile ground.
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