How are forest herb distributions shaped in a heterogeneous temperate deciduous forest? The question is important to management of diversity because the spatial and temporal dynamic of human land use appear to be ratcheting herb species out of the deciduous forest flora. To address the question, automatic wildlife cameras (ATSI, Athens, Ohio), were used to monitor fleshy fruit removal in four species. Plant microsites were described in terms of twelve environmental gradients.
Results/Conclusions
Removal events were rare (one removal every 16-46 days) but three distinct patterns emerged, corresponding to fruit presentation morphology. Podophyllum peltatum (large fruits dangling near the ground) were taken by deer and large omnivores. Maianthemum racemosa and Hydrastis canadensis (small fruits near the ground) were eaten by rodents and songbirds, whereas Arisaema triphyllum (small fruits visible from above) were taken exclusively by songbirds. Each of these animal guilds has a distinctive movement ecology, and is likely to create an equally distinctive pattern of seed distribution. Plant microsites were significantly different from randomly chosen points, suggesting that the animals place seeds in distinctive subsets of the forest microenvironment.