作者
Catherine Duthie, George Gibbs, KC Burns
发表日期
2006/3/17
期刊
Science
卷号
311
期号
5767
页码范围
1575-1575
出版商
American Association for the Advancement of Science
简介
Weta are giant, flightless grasshoppers that are endemic to New Zealand. In the absence of native mammals, weta are thought to perform similar ecological functions. As such, they might be expected to be important seeds dispersers. However, insects are not known to consume fleshy fruits and to disperse seeds after gut passage. We conducted a series of observations and experiments to test whether weta form mutualistic partnerships with fleshy-fruited plants as seed dispersers, similar to small mammals elsewhere in the world. Results showed that weta are indeed effective seeds dispersers, providing an example of ecological convergence between unrelated organisms.
引用总数
200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202442526910823238341231
学术搜索中的文章