Re: Dogwoods and Holly
Bill Bridgeland (wtbwild@erols.com)
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 22:18:58 -0500
Todd,
The answer to some of your questions about the birds' preference for
some (dogwood) berries over others (holly) lies in the complex
strategies that different plants have to entice the right frugivores
at the right time for their particular ecological niches. Some fall
ripening fruits like dogwood, grape, and Virginia creeper are designed
to be eaten by fall flocking migrants like robins during a relatively
short windows, presumably because the best time for the seeds to be
planted is in the fall. Other fruits like holly, sumac, winterberry
are less palatable and taken by birds later when little else is
available. They fill an important role as emergency foods then.
These plants put less nutrition in the berries, and are adapted to be
planted during the winter or early spring.
So the point of all this is that the plants are manipulating the birds
more than the other way around, and they determine when their fruits
are eaten based on their best interests, and, as a community provide
food to frugivores throughout the year.
Bill Bridgeland
Sparks, MD