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 40 elephant dump in pasture DHJanzen100562.jpg high resolution
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| Well, the emphasis of this research project abruptly changed from the biology of Enterolobium seedlings to the biology of seed predation by Liomys and how this interacts with the megafauna. Having no circus elephant at my disposal, I had to make up my own. And elephant dung dump is about a bucketful, about 8 liters of dung. So, here is 8 liters of horse dung with 500 Enterolobium seeds mixed in, placed far out in a pasture. Pastures, with their near total absence of woody plant seeds, are generally not occupied or foraged in by Liomys (except during population explosions). After several weeks, the dung beetles have worked it over as much as they are going to, and Enterolobium seedlings are beginning to appear. So, the study quickly became a contrast of pasture with forest, or really, to ask what are the seed survival rates of seed shadows in pastures as contrasted with seed shadows in adjacent forest. | ||
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