Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:10:58.333Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dispersal of Leafy Spurge Seeds (Euphorbia esula) by Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

David E. Blockstein ,
Bruce D. Maxwell  and
Peter K. Fay
David E. Blockstein
Affiliation:
Univ. Minnesota, Bell Museum of Nat. Hist., 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Bruce D. Maxwell
Affiliation:
Plant and Soil Sci. Dep., Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT 59717
Peter K. Fay
Affiliation:
Plant and Soil Sci. Dep., Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT 59717
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The potential of mourning doves (Zenaida macroura L.) as dispersers of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L. # EPHES) seeds was investigated by examing digestive tract contents and feces. Very few intact seeds passed through the digestive systems of wild or captive adult mourning doves. An average of less than one intact leafy spurge seed/g was recovered from fecal material found in dove nests. These results suggest that adult mourning doves are primarily consumers of leafy spurge seeds and rarely act as dispersal agents. It appears that dispersal is only possible when seeds passing through the digestive tracts of nestlings are deposited in the nest and the nest later falls.

Keywords

Seed predatorEPHES
Type
Weed Biology and Ecology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , March 1987 , pp. 160 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 by the Weed Science Society of America 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

1. Bakke, A. L. 1936. Leafy spurge, Euphorbia esula L. Iowa Res. Stn. Bull. No. 189:209–245.Google Scholar
2. Beams, H. W. and Meyer, R. K. 1931. The formation of pigeon “milk”. Physiol. Zool. 4:486–500.Google Scholar
3. Browning, M. B. 1959. An ecological study of the food habits of the mourning dove. Calif. Fish Game. 45:313–331.Google Scholar
4. Cook, A. D., Atsatt, P. R., and Simon, C. A. 1971. Doves and dove weed: multiple defenses against avian predation. Bioscience 21:277–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Cummings, E. G. and Quay, T. L. 1953. Food habits of the mourning dove in North Carolina. J. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 69:142–149.Google Scholar
6. Downing, R. L. 1959. Significance of ground nesting by mourning doves in northwestern Oklahoma. J. Wildlife Manage. 23:117–118.Google Scholar
7. Dunn, P. H. 1979. The distribution of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) and other weedy Euphorbia spp. in the United States. Weed Sci. 27:509–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Knappen, P. 1938. Preliminary report of some of the important foods of the mourning dove in southeastern United States. Trans. North Am. Wildlife Res. Conf. 3:776–781.Google Scholar
9. Jennings, D. 1941. The food of twenty-two mourning doves taken during the 1940 hunting season. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci. 44:427–428.Google Scholar
10. Messersmith, C. G. and Lym, R. G. 1983. Distribution and economic impacts of leafy spurge in North Dakota. North Dakota Farm Res. Bull. 40:8–13.Google Scholar
11. Schmid, W. D. 1965. Energy intake of the mourning dove, Zenaida macroura marginella . Science 150:1171–1172.Google Scholar
12. Selleck, G. W., Coupland, R. T., and Frankton, C. 1962. Leafy spurge in Saskatchewan. Ecol. Monogr. 32:1–29.Google Scholar
13. Stewart, R. E. 1975. Breeding Birds of North Dakota. Tri-College Center for Environmental Studies, Fargo, ND. 295 pp.Google Scholar