Fruit Characteristics Of Bird-seeded Plants In Zhongshan Botanical Garden And Their Feeding Behaviors

After plant fruits(seeds)mature,they usually have a series of characteristics to attract frugivorous animals to forage and disperse.These characteristics are called dispersal syndromes.Dispersal syndrome generally includes fruit size,color,weight,pulp type,number of seeds,weight and time to onset of maturity.Syndromes correspond to different dispersal agents,such as birds,mammals,ants,etc.,and form different modes of dispersal.The morphological characteristics of plant fruits(seeds)that depend on the spread of different animal groups are adapted to the spread of each animal,reflecting the interaction between animals and plants.Fleshy fruit is the most common type of fruit that relies on animals to spread in nature.The proportion of fleshy fruit plants is about 40%in the temperate zone and 90%in the tropics.Important objects of the relationship.In this study,the succulent fruit plants and frugivorous birds in the Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden were used as research objects to study the fruit characteristics of bird-seeding plants and the feeding of frugivorous birds in the Zhongshan Botanical Garden.The results are as follows:(1)A total of 21 succulent fruit plants were investigated by census method.There were 17species in autumn and winter,and only 4 species in spring and summer.The fruits are mostly spherical,ellipsoidal and nearly spherical.The fruit trait characteristics and seed trait parameters were extremely significant(P<0.001),indicating that there were significant differences among the 21 plants.The cumulative contribution of the first 4 principal components of plant fruit and seed character parameter values is as high as 92.051%.(2)A survey of birds in the Zhongshan Botanical Garden in Nanjing was conducted by using the sample line method,focusing on the study of the species composition,density and temporal pattern of frugivorous birds.A similarity analysis was conducted on the species composition of frugivorous birds,and 66 sets of similarity comparison data were obtained.The composition of the species of frugivorous birds varies little each month,and the composition is relatively similar.There is a correlation between the number and uniformity of frugivorous birds and the number of plant species(P<0.05).Among them,there is a significant positive correlation between the number of frugivorous birds and the number of plant species.relationship.(3)A combination of sample line method and sample point method was used to investigate the feeding situation of frugivorous birds in Zhongshan Botanical Garden.A total of 2637 feeding behaviors of 39 species of frugivorous birds on 21 plants were recorded.There are significant differences between single birds eating different plant fruits(seeds)and different birds eating single plant fruits(seeds)(P<0.01).During a year,there are 224 reciprocal connections between38 species of frugivorous birds and 17 species of plants;189 reciprocal connections between 38species of frugivorous birds and 17 species of plants in autumn and winter;There are 35reciprocal connections between genus and 4 species of plants.The average number of birds visited in different months,the average feeding time,the average food intake and the average total food intake were all significantly different(P<0.001).There are very significant differences in the number of feeding of plant fruits(seeds)by different frugivorous birds(t=2.766,df=38,P<0.01).There were extremely significant differences in the average number of visits,average feeding time,average food intake and average total food intake of the Pycnonotus sinensis,Turdus merula and Cyanopica cyana(P<0.001).The average food intake of frugivorous birds increases with the growth of body weight,body length,beak peak length,wing length,tail length,and tarsus length,only there is a significant positive difference between body weight,wing length and average food intake Correlation(P<0.05).Fruit length was significantly positively correlated with the species of frugivorous birds(P<0.05).(4)Focus scanning method was used to observe the behavior of birds feeding on camphor fruit(seed).The effective record of the study was 48 days,and a total of 1021 feeding behaviors of camphor fruit(seeds)were recorded for 27 species of birds.There are significant differences in the number of feedings of camphor fruits(seeds)by different birds(t=3.096,df=26,P<0.01);the average number of visits and average feedings of birds on camphor fruits(seeds)during different months There were extremely significant differences in frequency,average feeding time and feeding quantity(P<0.001).The Pycnonotus sinensis,the Turdus merula and the Cyanopica cyanus are the three species of birds that have the most visits and food intake,and there are very significant differences in the number of food consumed by the three species(F_3,598=25.219,P<0.001).The weight(r=0.665,P<0.001),body length(r=0.629,P<0.001)and beak peak length(r=0.561,P<0.05)of frugivorous birds were significantly positively correlated with the number of foods relationship.This experiment mainly takes the Zhongshan Botanical Garden as the research site to study the diversity of fruit plants,morphology and phenology of fruits,the relationship between frugivorous birds and fruits(feeding and network),and to study the animals and plants under ex situ conservation The relationship and the relationship between animals and plants in the city park provide a reference to provide more basis and related knowledge for better protection of the botanical garden and bird diversity.