Dispersal of Seeds by Frugivores in the foothills of Keeriparai Forest Eco System of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu

Frugivoresinclude a large diversity of taxa, from annelids to elephants, and fish and herps, spanning body masses from a few grams to several tonnes. Plants that produce fleshy fruits and rely on animals for seed dispersalare also diverse and differ in fruit size, seedling vigor, phenophase length and so on. In terms of the potential effects of habitat fragmentation, it matters which critical frugivoreor plant life strategies are correlated within a network. Fruit trees and frugivores, both mammals and birds were identified over 11 months in the foot hills of Western Ghats in Kanyakumari District. The seed dispersal through bird droppings, scat of mammals and also the fruit biomass was observed around 10-12 kilo meters transect walk. It was observed that mammalian frugivores are more than the avian frugivores. Mono cultivation of rubber trees and low diversity of fruit trees may be the reasons for the low number of avian frugivores as it was noted that foot hills of the forests are converted into rubber plantations. The study also focused on the type of fruit trees found on the forests of Western Ghats as it was important for the survival of frugivores. The arboreal frugivore identified at Keeriparai Forest Range consisted of four species of non-flying mammals, two primates, one flying squirrel and a bat and six species of avian frugivores. The conservation and promotion of fruit trees is important for the survival of frugivores, which are important in forest eco system, due to their crucial role in seed dispersal and regeneration.