title: Galápagos land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus) as a seed disperser.
abstract: The role of the most common land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus) in the Galápagos Islands as an effective seed disperser is explored in this study. A total of 5705 seeds of 32 plant species were identified from 160 scats, 4545 of which (80%) appeared visually undamaged. Germination trials of 849 seeds from 29 species revealed that at least 10 species remained viable after passing through the iguana's gut, although only a small proportion of those seeds (4%) germinated. In any case, we argue that C. subcristatus exerts an important role on the 7 Galapagos islands where it occurs because of its abundance and capacity to ingest and disperse seeds at long distances. Our results strongly suggest that the Galápagos C. subcristatus plays an important role as a seed disperser of not only of native species but also some introduced plants in the Galápagos Islands.
authors.affiliation: Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), C/ Miquel Marqués 21, Esporles, Mallorca 07190, Balearic Islands, Spain.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Traveset
authors.affiliation: Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group (CSIC-IPNA), Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología, 38206 Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nogales
authors.affiliation: Real Jardín Botánico (CSIC-RJB), Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, Plaza de Murillo 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.affiliation: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Coimbra 3000-456, Portugal.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rumeu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jens M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Olesen
authors.affiliation: Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jaramillo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Coimbra 3000-456, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heleno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004484:Ecuador; D005243:Feces; D018525:Germination; D007076:Iguanas / Q000502:physiology*; D058614:Seed Dispersal; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Conolophus subcristatus; Fernandina Island; Galápagos Islands Saurochory; seed dispersal