Researchers from Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore, in a study carried out in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh noted that hornbills, one among the large-sized frugivores (fruit-eaters), are the most effective seed dispersers.
“They were found to swallow and disperse most of the fruits they handled. They also removed maximum number of fruits – and therefore seeds – in every visit to a fruiting tree,” explains Dr Rohit Naniwadekar, author of the study. “They swallow the fruit as a whole causing no damage to the seed. They are known to disperse seeds far away from the parent plant and our previous studies have shown that they can disperse up to 13 kms.”
Sadly, hornbills are also the most threatened because they are hunted for meat, and tribal communities use their feathers for headdresses.
“Seeds that fall under the parent tree face heavy competition, predation by rodents and insects, and fungal infections. So their chances for survival are very low. Plants depend on frugivorous birds to disperse the seeds at favourable sites. And so the decline of frugivores could severely affect the ecosystem,” he added.
Picture Credit : Google