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标题：Diet and Fruit Choice of the Brown Palm Civet Paradoxurus Jerdoni , a Viverrid Endemic to the Western Ghats Rainforest, India
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作者：Divya Mudappa ; Ajith Kumar ; Ravi Chellam 等
期刊名称：Tropical Conservation Science
电子版ISSN：1940-0829
出版年度：2010
卷号：3
期号：3
页码：282-300
DOI：10.1177/194008291000300304
出版社：SAGE Publications
摘要：Brown palm civet diet was assessed by examining 1,013 scats between May 1996 and December 1999 in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, India. The brown palm civet is predominantly frugivorous, with fruits of 53 native species and four species of introduced plants comprising 97% of its diet. There was high intra- and inter-annual variation in the diet of brown palm civets. Civets adapted to fluctuations in fruit resources by feeding on a diverse range of species and supplementing their year-round, primarily frugivorous, diet with invertebrates and vertebrates. Civets mainly ate fruits of trees and lianas, rarely those of herbs or shrubs. Fruits eaten by civets were mostly small (2 cm) fruits like Palaquium ellipticum, Elaeocarpus serratus, Holigarna nigra, and Knema attenuata. The brown palm civet is a key mammalian seed disperser in the Western Ghats rainforest by being predominantly frugivorous and dispersing a diverse array of plant species. As brown palm civets can persist in fragmented rainforest, they can play a major role in restoration of degraded fragments in these landscapes. The results emphasize the need to recognize the importance of small carnivores as seed dispersers in tropical forests.
关键词：fruit characteristics ; frugivory ; small carnivore ; viverrid ; Western Ghats