Diaspores are the dispersal units of plants and their morphology is linked to dispersal and establishment strategies. In this study we evaluated diaspore morphology in 64 tree and treelet species adapted to vertebrate consumption at Parque Estadual de Itapuã, southern Brazil. Our aim was to relate features crucial to dispersal, such as diaspore length, shape and color, to features limiting establishment success, like mass and number of seeds. We considered vertebrate-dispersed diaspores to be those with fleshy structures. Average diaspore length for the species analyzed was 1.7 ± 1.67 cm (N = 1,402). Based on an ordination diagram using length and mass of diaspores plus number and mass of seeds per diaspore, we separated the species into four morphological groups. Species with few seeds per diaspore were linked to bird, mammal, or mixed dispersal strategies; species with high mass and many seeds per diaspore was an indication of mammal dispersal; and a high number of small, light seeds was associated with mixed syndrome strategists. The group with highest species richness (35 species) presented small diaspores and few seeds, most of them red or black in color, potentially adapted to bird dispersal and with a greater proportion of seed mass per diaspore.
zoochoric syndrome; seed dispersal; seed size; fruit color; fruit shape
