Title: Fruit traits of vertebrate-dispersed alien plants: smaller seeds and more pulp sugar than indigenous species
Abstract: Vertebrates play a major role in dispersing seeds
of fleshy-fruited alien plants. However, we know little of how the traits of
alien fleshy fruits compare with indigenous fleshy fruits, and how these
differences might contribute to invasion success. In this study, we
characterised up to 38 fruit morphology, pulp nutrient and phenology traits of
an assemblage of 34 vertebrate-dispersed alien species in south-eastern
Queensland, Australia. Most alien fruits were small
(81% < 15 mm in mean width), and had watery fruit pulps that
were high in sugars and low in nitrogen and lipids. When compared to indigenous
species, alien fruits had significantly smaller seeds. Further, alien fruit
pulps contained more sugar and more variable (and probably greater) nitrogen per
pulp wet weight, and species tended to have longer fruiting seasons than
indigenous species. Our analyses suggest that fruit traits could be important in
determining invasiveness and could be used to improve pre- and post-border weed
risk assessment. [Carl R. Gosper and Gabrielle Vivian-Smith
(2010). Fruit traits of vertebrate-dispersed alien plants: smaller seeds and
more pulp sugar than indigenous species. Biological Invasions, 12(7),
2153-2162. doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9617-y]
Keywords: Bird-dispersed - Fleshy
fruit - Fruit morphology - Frugivory - Invasive
plant - Pulp nutrients