74 BIOTROPICA 36(1): 74–84 2004 Seed Dispersal of the Palm Attalea oleifera in a Remnant of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest 1 Domingos Sa ´ vio Pimentel and Marcelo Tabarelli 2 Departamento de Bota ˆ nica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil, 50670-901 ABSTRACT This study investigated the seed dispersal of the canopy palm Attalea oleifera in a 3500 ha fragment of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We monitored ten fruiting palms during six months, when the following mammals were recorded feeding on Attalea fruits and/or seeds: (1) Brazilian squirrels (Sciurus aestuans, 78 diurnal records); (2) white-eared opossums (Didelphis albiventris, 8 nocturnal records); (3) black-humped agoutis (Dasyprocta prymnolopha, 3 diurnal records); (4) pacas (Agouti paca, 1 nocturnal record); (5) rice rats (Oryzomys capito, 11 nocturnal records); and (6) short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis americana, 4 diurnal records). Fruit removal on the ground reached 71.9  21.9 percent after a three-month period, and most fruits were moved less than 5 m from parental palms. Squirrels generally moved fruits and endocarps 5–10 m from parents, whereas opossums, pacas, and agoutis moved 91.7, 78, and 74.1 percent of fruits less than 5 m, respectively. Oviposition on endocarps by the bruchid Pachymeros cardo ranged between 62.1 and 84.3 percent of endocarps previously manipulated by white-eared opossums, squirrels, and rice rats, whereas 57.9 percent of old endocarps collected around reproductive palms were attacked by bruchids. Moreover, oviposition on endocarps varied from 42.3 percent in the case of single endocarps to 70.9 percent of endocarps in piles. Attalea seeds abundantly germinated beneath parental palms despite the high levels of predation, and distribution of both seedlings and adults suggested that squirrels played an important role in palm recruitment at the study site. RESUMO Este estudo investiga a dispersa ˜o de sementes da palmeira de dossel Attalea oleifera em um fragmento de floresta Atla ˆntica brasileira com 3500 ha. Dez palmeiras em frutificac ¸a ˜o foram monitoradas durante seis meses. Neste perı ´odo, as seguintes espe ´cies de mamı ´feros foram observadas alimentando-se dos frutos/sementes de Attalea: (1) esquilo (Sciurus aestuans, 78 registros diurnos); (2) gamba ´(Didelphis albiventris, 8 registros noturnos); (3) cutia (Dasyprocta prymno- lopha, 3 registros diurnos); (4) paca (Agouti paca, 1 registro noturno); (5) rato-porco (Oryzomys capito, 11 registros noturnos); e (6) rato catita (Monodelphis americana, 4 registros diurnos). A remoc ¸a ˜o de frutos no cha ˜o da floresta alcanc ¸ou 71.9  21.9 porciento apo ´s tre ˆs meses e a maioria dos frutos foi removida a menos de 5 m de dista ˆncia das palmeiras em frutificac ¸a ˜o. Os esquilos removeram frutos e endocarpos preferencialmente entre 5 e 10 m de dista ˆncia das palmeiras matrizes, enquanto que gamba ´s, pacas, e cutias removeram 91.7, 78, e 74.1 porciento dos frutos a menos de 5 m de dista ˆncia, respectivamente. A oviposic ¸a ˜o de endocarpos pelo bruquı ´deo Pachymeros cardo variou entre 62.1 e 84.3 porciento dos endocarpos manipulados pelos gamba ´s, esquilos, e ratos-porco; 57.9 porciento dos endocarpos velhos coletados ao redor de palmeiras reprodutivas foram tambe ´m predados por bruquı ´deos. Ale ´m disso, a oviposic ¸a ˜o nos endocarpos variou entre 42.3 porciento no caso de endocarpos isolados e 70.9 porciento no caso dos endocarpos empilhados. As sementes de Attalea germinaram abundantemente embaixo da copa das palmeiras a despeito dos altos nı ´veis de predac ¸a ˜o. A distribuic ¸a ˜o espacial de pla ˆntulas e de adultos sugere que os esquilos podem ter um papel importante no recrutamento de Attalea oleifera na a ´rea de estudo. Key words: Attalea oleifera; Brazilian Atlantic Forest; Pachymeros cardo; Sciurus aestuans; seed dispersal. SEED DISPERSAL BY VERTEBRATES probably affects seedling recruitment, plant spatial distribution, and colonization ability of thousands of woody plant species in tropical forests (Howe 1984, Corlett & Turner 1997, Asquith et al. 1999). More specifi- cally, as many as 87 to 90 percent of the woody plant species in local floras of Neotropical forests produce diaspores that are gut-dispersed by verte- 1 Received 15 August 2002; revision accepted 22 Novem- ber 2003. 2 Corresponding author. brates (Peres & Roosmalen 2002). This figure re- flects the fact that several speciose plant families in the Neotropics such as Lauraceae, Myrtaceae, Sa- potaceae, Chrysobalanaceae, and Palmae are entire- ly dispersed by vertebrates (endo and synzoochory sensu Roosmalen 1985). Studies on dispersal ecology have identified ro- dents (Smythe 1989, Forget 1991, Galetti et al. 1992, Forget et al. 1994, Brewer 2001, Silva & Tabarelli 2001), primates (Cintra & Horna 1997), birds (Reis 1995), and ungulates (Kiltie 1981, Bod- mer 1991, Fragoso 1998) among the dispersers of