Son las cabras dispersoras sustitutas de semillas en el bosque tropical estacionalmente seco

Abstract

Abstract: The Goats dispersed seeds from ten woody species, of which at least 50% are legumes. Acacia macracantha seeds represented more than 70% of seeds present in goat feces. The passage of seeds through the digestive tract of goats significantly improved the percentage and speed of germination in Albizia multiflora, Piscidia carthagenensis and Ziziphus thyrsiflora, while in Choroleucon mangense and Prosopis juliflora no germination was registered. We did not find a correlation between the richness of established trees and the number of species found in the goat feces (X2 = -0.23, p-value = 0.53). The composition of dispersed seed species in the feces did not show a dependency on the locality, although the composition of the established vegetation changes between localities. The frequency of seeds in the feces did not show a relationship with the tree abundance in the established vegetation. Keywords: degradation; endozoochory; germination.