• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News Environment

Monkeys help regenerate rainforests…through their poo

Researchers studied the dispersal and germination of seeds as well as the growth and genetic origin of various plants in a forest that had emerged from a former pasture in Peru

Steve Beech by Steve Beech
2019-07-27 13:31
in Environment
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

Monkeys help regenerate rainforests – through their poo, a new study has revealed.

Scientists conducted a long-term study on the role monkeys play in the regeneration of degraded forests.

For over 20 years, they observed two species of tamarin in the Amazon rainforest of Peru.

The tamarins feed on fruits, but empty the seeds undigested with their faeces.

The research team studied the dispersal and germination of seeds as well as the growth and genetic origin of various plants in a forest that had emerged from a former pasture.

Their findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, proved for the first time that monkeys have a “decisive influence” on the dispersal of seeds from the original primary forest to the regenerating secondary forest.

An area of about four hectares (9.9 acres) was cleared and used as pasture for water buffalos between 1990 and 2000.

RelatedPosts

Met Office forecasts extreme heat conditions for Glastonbury 2050

‘Human faeces’ in rivers: Fury as another water supplier probed over sewage treatment as Whitty wades into crisis

‘Totally unacceptable:’ Government ‘siding with water companies’ over sewage discharge

Koalas now endangered across much of Australia’s east coast

But after the grazing was abandoned, rainforest slowly developed again.

The researchers observed that moustached and black-fronted tamarins were temporarily in the early secondary forest.

They said that tropical rainforests store large quantities of carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and provide habitats for many animal and plant species.

And If these ecosystems, which are so important for the global climate and biodiversity, are destroyed, they will recover very slowly, if at all.

Study leader Professor Eckhard Heymann, a scientist at the German Primate Centre, explained that tamarins feed mainly on fruits and disperse the seeds of many different tropical trees and vines over their faeces.

He said: “We wanted to find out whether the seed dispersal by monkeys has a demonstrable effect on the natural regeneration of forests.”

To investigate which seeds were dispersed from the primary forest to the secondary forest, the researchers identified seeds from the monkeys’ faeces and observed their development in the secondary forest.

Around 10 per cent of the seeds stem from plants growing in the primary forest and were dispersed into the secondary forest. A part of these seeds germinated and the resulting seedlings survived for at least one year.

Prof Heymann said the seedlings could be assigned to eight different plant species. Seven of these species could only be found as adult plants in the nearby primary forest.

To genetically verify the results, the scientists analysed seedlings and young plants of the neotropic tree Parkia panurensis.

The seeds of that tree are dispersed exclusively by tamarins in the area around the research station.

The researchers extracted the DNA from leaves of seedlings and young plants growing in the secondary forest and compared them with those of adult Parkia trees in the primary forest.

Half of the seedlings and young plants could be matched to 11 parent trees in the primary forest. The distances between young and parent plants were exactly in the range over which the tamarins disperse Parkia seeds.

Prof Heymann said: “Our data show for the first time that the moustached and black-fronted tamarins effectively disperse seeds from primary forest into secondary forest.

“We were able to prove that the seeds germinate and form young plants, thus increasing the diversity of species in the secondary forest.

“The tamarins have been shown to contribute to the natural regeneration of areas destroyed by humans.”

The study included data collected since 1994.

Prof Heymann added: “At that time, we did not expect the cleared forest area to ever recover.

“However, the study shows how important data collection and investigations over a very long period of time are in order to be able to make reliable statements about slowly developing ecological processes.”

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

Vaccine chief Kate Bingham still manages investments for drug firms

Sports Direct in U-turn after being branded ‘irresponsible’ for keeping stores open

UK formally leaves EU… on Central European Time

Film Review: Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

Beer of the Week – Bedlam Brewery Pilsner

Boats in Med helping to spread alien species putting the ecosystem at risk

West Ham Defender has extended contract

Drunk woman who had sex with 14-year-old at party is cleared of abuse

The Belfast Book Festival: When Irish Spies are Writing

Piers Morgan accuses Meghan of lying – again – in Tucker Carlson tell-all

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.