Monito Del Monte - Role As A Seed Disperser

Role As A Seed Disperser

A study performed in the temperate forests of southern Argentina showed a mutualistic seed dispersal relationship between D. gliroides and Tristerix corymbosus, also known as the Loranthacous mistletoe. The monito del monte is the single dispersal agent for this plant, and without it the plant would likely become extinct. The monito del monte eats the fruit of T. corymbosus, and thus disperses the seeds. Scientists speculate that the coevolution of these two species could have begun 60–70 million years ago.

Read more about this topic:  Monito Del Monte

Famous quotes containing the words role as, role and/or seed:

    “American feminists have generally stressed the ways in which men and women should be equal and have therefore tried to put aside differences.... Social feminists [in Europe] ... believe that men and society at large should provide systematic support to women in recognition of their dual role as mothers and workers.”
    —Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)

    “Our role is to support anything positive in black life and destroy anything negative that touches it. You have no other reason for being. I don’t understand art for art’s sake. Art is the guts of the people.”
    —Elma Lewis (b. 1921)

    “The hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes. The heart of a hurt child can shrink so that forever afterward it is hard and pitted as the seed of a peach. Or, again, the heart of such a child may fester and swell until it is misery to carry within the body, easily chafed and hurt by the most ordinary things.”
    —Carson McCullers (1917–1967)