Directed Dispersal: Demographic Analysis of an Ant-Seed Mutualism

@article{Hanzawa1988DirectedDD,
  title={Directed Dispersal: Demographic Analysis of an Ant-Seed Mutualism},
  author={Frances M. Hanzawa and Andrew James Beattie and David C. Culver},
  journal={The American Naturalist},
  year={1988},
  volume={131},
  pages={1 - 13}
}
Certain seed dispersers may benefit plants by depositing seeds in specific microsites favorable for survival or growth. This has been called "directed dispersal." We examine the effects of seed dispersal by ants on the demography of two seed cohorts of Corydalis aurea: one relocated to ant nests by undisturbed ant foragers, and a control cohort of equal numbers planted by hand in the vicinity of each nest. The ant-treated cohort produced 90% more offspring than the control cohort and had a… 
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164 Citations

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Evaluation of secondary dispersal in a large-seeded tree Aesculus turbinata: a test of directed dispersal

The directed dispersal hypothesis for this species is rejected, and it is concluded that the role of rodents in dispersing large seeds secondarily is more important for finding suitable sites merely by enlarging seed shadow and relatively less important for escaping natural enemies.

Effects of Dispersers, Gaps, and Predators on Dormancy and Seedling Emergence in a Tropical Herb

Seedling emergence in this ant—dispersed herb with a relatively long—lived seed bank depends upon a complex of factors, suggesting an interaction of the effects of biotic dispersal to local safe microsites with larger scale effects of spatial and temporal variation in the abiotic environment.

Advantages of Seed Dispersal for a Myrmecochorous Temperate Forest Herb

Testing how survival of seeds of a myrmecochrous forest herb in two forest sites in southwestern Ohio, USA was affected by the following treatments: distance from parent plant, seed burial, elaiosome removal, and their interactions found that when placed in artificial depots consisting of 10 seeds, only seed burial significantly aided seed survival.

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It is suggested that directed dispersal is more common than previously believed even in the absence of plant adaptations to promote it, and may often be ecologically important if one dispersal vector has a disproportionate effect on plant recruitment.

Testing the directed dispersal hypothesis: are native ant mounds (Formica sp.) favorable microhabitats for an invasive plant?

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ANT-MEDIATED SEED DISPERSAL ALTERS PATTERN OF RELATEDNESS IN A POPULATION OF TRILLIUM GRANDIFLORUM

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