The absence of elephants and rhinoceroses reduces biodiversity in tropical forests

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/f-sf-tao051112.php

[font face=Serif]Public release date: 11-May-2012

Contact: SINC Team
[e-mail]
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

[font size=5]The absence of elephants and rhinoceroses reduces biodiversity in tropical forests[/font]

[font size=3]The progressive disappearance of seed-dispersing animals like elephants and rhinoceroses puts the structural integrity and biodiversity of the tropical forest of South-East Asia at risk. With the help of Spanish researchers, an international team of experts has confirmed that not even herbivores like tapirs can replace them.

"Megaherbivores act as the 'gardeners' of humid tropical forests: They are vital to forest regeneration and maintain its structure and biodiversity", as was explained to SINC by Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, the lead author of the study that was published in the 'Biotropica' journal and researcher at the School of Geography of the University of Nottingham in Malaysia.

In these forests in East Asia, the large diversity of plant species means that there is not enough space for all the trees to germinate and grow. As well as the scarce light, seed dispersion is made more complicated by the lack of wind due to the trees that are up to 90 metres high. Plant life is then limited to seeds dispersed by those animals that eat pulp. They either scatter seeds by dropping their food, regurgitating it or by defecating later on.

In the case of large seeds, "plants need a large animal capable of eating, transporting and defecating the seeds in good conditions," as outlined to SINC by Luis Santamaría, co-author and researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) of Spain's CSIC Scientific Research Agency. This is where elephants and rhinoceroses come into play because they can scatter large quantities of seeds thanks to the fact that they slowly digest very little of their food.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2011.00784.x

[ret5hd]

1. Do you purposefully use a font that is difficult to read?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. No, I purposely use a font that is easier to read

The question of Serif -vs- San Serif is an old one.

http://alexpoole.info/which-are-more-legible-serif-or-sans-serif-typefaces/

Personally, I find serifed typefaces to be easier to read.

[ret5hd]

5. hmmm...on my home computer i see it as a VERY thin italic font...

but now, on my Ipad i see it as you describe it.

I wonder why that is?

Anyway, my apologies.

[Nihil]

7. Browser settings?

If you are using Firefox, try pressing Ctrl 0 (zero) and that will reset your zoom level.

(I've been caught out by accidentally pressing either Ctrl + or Ctrl - and ended up with
a zoomed or reduced screen before now ...)

Also go to Tools \ Options \ Content tab as you can change your default font (& size) there.

HTH,

[GliderGuider]

2. So it goes... nt

[lastlib]

4. Elephants don't know nuttin' 'bout diversity!

(Not sure RINOs do either......)

but I know a whole lotta elephants I'd like to send to a good 'n hot desert somehwere to expand its diversity!

[NickB79]

6. Here in N. America, it's thought several trees used to be distributed by mammoths and slothes

http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/trees-that-miss-the-mammoths/

Another anachronistic tree is the Kentucky coffeetree, so named because early Kentucky settlers used its beans as a coffee substitute. Coffeetrees have tough, leathery pods with large, toxic seeds surrounded by a sweet pulp. Water cannot penetrate the thick seed coat to begin germination unless it is abraded or cut. Sounds like mammoth food to me. The natural range of coffeetrees is concentrated in the Midwest, but without its megafauna disperser, it is generally rare and mostly limited to floodplains.

I can attest to the thick seed coat of coffeetrees. I've personally germinated them, but it required I either work on them with a metal file, soak them in boiling water, or dip them in battery acid!