PhD Theses (SACON)

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    Study on avian frugivory and seed dispersal in the shoal forests of Nilgiri Hills, Western Ghats, India.
    (SACON, 2013) Anbarasu, C.; Balasubramanian, P.
    A study on avian frugivory and seed dispersal in 111'0 shola forests of Nilgiri hills, Western Ghats was carried out from January 2009 to July 20 I I. Longwood shola is situated between 11 °43.494'N and 0760 87A63'E) and Eppanadu shola between I lo29. IS]'N and 0760 47.223'E. The objectives or the present study were, i). study avian frugivory and find out major frugivores in the shola forests ii). assessing fruiting phenology of fleshy-fruited tree species and find out the fruiting seasonality, iii). establish the role of avian frugivores in seed dispersal and forest regeneration. Vegetation sampling was done in both the shola forests, Longwood and Eppanadu. One h3 plot (50x20m) were laid in e3ch of the above-mentioned two shola s. Data collected were analyzed to obtain quantitative structure and composition of plant communities. Fruiting periodicity was determined by monitoring tagged trees for 24 months.
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    Study on Avian frugivory in Tropical Mixed Dry Deciduous and Scrub Forest in Southern India
    (SACON, 2012) Aruna, R.; Balasubramanian, P.
    Mutualistic plant-animal interactions exist in a wide variety with one of the most important being seed dispersal or the transport of seeds away from a parent plant by animals. Not only plants depend on animals for the dispersal of their seeds, animals, too, rely on plants for fruit as a food resource. Avian frugivores are considered the most important seed dispersers in several ecosystems, as assessed by the numbers of successful propagules disseminated. Fruit-eat in g birds play a critical role in the functioning of tropical ecosystems and may assist in the natural regeneration of forests by dispersing seeds into cleared areas. Seed dispersal by animals and frugivory have reached the pinnacle in tropical forests, where a percentage of up to 90% of tree and shrub species produce fleshy fruits adapted to animal dispers.:11 and eaten by a large number of vertebrates. In tropical forests, frugivorous animals are the dominant group of vertebrates. The challenge of frugivores is to find, eat and subsist partially or entirely on fruits that arc mostly deficient in protein, but rich in carbohydrates or lipids. Fruit availability is one crucial factor influencing the frugivore community. A study on frugivory by birds was carried out in two forest types namely, Tropical mixed dry deciduous forest in the Western Ghats and Scrub forest in the Eastern Ghats, Southern India. The research work was carried out in the tropical mixed dry deciduous forest of the Anaikatty hills of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve