被消化并不總是一件壞事,。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)最新的研究：一種產(chǎn)于南美洲的野生辣椒chacoense的種子,，在經(jīng)過了小嘴擬霸鹟——一種常見的霸鹟科鳥類——腸道后，其發(fā)芽的可能性大概提高了4倍,。
長期以來,，生態(tài)學(xué)家一直認(rèn)為：鳥類通常負(fù)責(zé)幫助植物從母本傳播種子到各個地方，以減少幼苗死于與成株植物患有相同疾病或激烈競爭的可能性,。但就這種辣椒而言,，與母本植物的距離對其成活沒有任何影響。
相反,，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)：實(shí)際上,，腸道可以將一種常見的致病真菌移除，同時(shí)清洗掉種子本身所帶有的被螞蟻所喜歡的氣味,。
這是第一次有人證明：被消化實(shí)際上有助于保護(hù)種子免受捕食和感染的威脅,，研究小組在6月的《生態(tài)學(xué)通訊》上對此進(jìn)行了報(bào)道。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Ecology Letters doi: 10.1111/ele.12134
When condition trumps location: seed consumption by fruit-eating birds removes pathogens and predator attractants
Fricke Evan C EC,Simon Melissa J MJ,Reagan Karen M KM,Levey Douglas J DJ,Riffell Jeffrey A JA,Carlo Tomás A TA,Tewksbury Joshua J JJ
Seed ingestion by frugivorous vertebrates commonly benefits plants by moving seeds to locations with fewer predators and pathogens than under the parent. For plants with high local population densities, however, movement from the parent plant is unlikely to result in 'escape' from predators and pathogens. Changes to seed condition caused by gut passage may also provide benefits, yet are rarely evaluated as an alternative. Here, we use a common bird-dispersed chilli pepper (Capsicum chacoense) to conduct the first experimental comparison of escape-related benefits to condition-related benefits of animal-mediated seed dispersal. Within chilli populations, seeds dispersed far from parent plants gained no advantage from escape alone, but seed consumption by birds increased seed survival by 370% - regardless of dispersal distance - due to removal during gut passage of fungal pathogens and chemical attractants to granivores. These results call into question the pre-eminence of escape as the primary advantage of dispersal within populations and document two overlooked mechanisms by which frugivores can benefit fruiting plants.
