@peterslingsby @arthur_chapman
Under mesic, temperate climates in Australia and southern Africa, vegetation tends to contain either myrmecochorous plants (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrmecochory and https://web.archive.org/web/20110721113717/http://ecology.science.unideb.hu/ConsEcolGroup/Pdf/Lengyel%20et%20al%202010%20(MyrmecochoryReview).pdf and https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Myrmecochorous-plants-in-Australia-and-their-by-Berg/7bb772f70dcc6078c7fb652ef7614af961a4e9f5), disseminated by ants, or endozoochorous plants, disseminated by birds.
Vegetation types emphasising myrmecochorous plants include kwongan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwongan), wallum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallum), heathland, and mallee-heath (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallee_Woodlands_and_Shrublands) in Australia, and fynbos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fynbos) in South Africa.
Vegetation types emphasising endozoochorous plants include vine-thicket (https://www.anbg.gov.au/photo/vegetation/rainforesst-vine-thickets.html) and rainforest (in the loose sense) in Australia, and strandveld (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Flats_Dune_Strandveld), various forms of thicket (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_thickets), and southern afrotemperate forest (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Afrotemperate_Forest) in South Africa.
In this Post I document a plant community in Australia that happens to be exactly intermediate, in the sense that the two syndromes of dissemination are equally balanced.
The following may explain how I came to focus on the shrubland in question.
Vine-thicket is latitudinally widespread in Australia, but is everywhere restricted to small patches.
This restriction is because vine-thicket depends on a combination of
The southwestern region of Western Australia (https://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/media/files/jewel_of_the_australian_continent_1.pdf) lacks vine-thicket, despite the fact that such vegetation occurs at similar latitudes in eastern Australia. This seems to be because the land is so flat, and intense wildfires so extensive, that not a single hectare of this vast area - apart from saline or semi-saline sites - of nearly 50 million hectares has been exempt from the tyranny of a regime that perpetuates flammable vegetation types: kwongan, mallee-heath, mallee, and eucalypt forest/woodland.
In the late seventies I became curious as to what kind of shrubland might occur in the situations most edaphically suited to vine-thicket in southwestern Western Australia, i.e. situated at the very threshold of eligibility.
The following is the composition of a particular plant community that - I suspect - would be vine-thicket were the surrounding conditions slightly more protective. It is one of the two study sites reported in https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Convergence-of-myrmecochory-in-mediterranean-and-Milewski-Bond/5cc228e53f72f9beabef44e586e84320bbb1fb3f, and happens nearly to correspond to the location of https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92633287.
The study site is just southeast of Culham Inlet (https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-culham-inlet-fitzgerald-river-np-wa-australia-75930034.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culham_Inlet) and adjacent to the southeastern corner of the unusually hilly Fitzgerald River National Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Mount_Barren and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzgerald_River_National_Park).
The study site has since been spoiled by roadworks (https://www.kalminer.com.au/news/kalgoorlie-miner/culham-inlet-causeway-an-important-step-for-hopetoun-ng-b881267020z).
The soil in this site was:
My floristic list is based on six visits made between 1978 and 1983, at various times of year. * indicates non-indigenous species, FF indicates species with fleshy fruits, E indicates species with elaiosomes attractive to ants, and FF/E indicates species with diaspores of intermediate structure such as fleshy fruits so small that they are as attractive to ants as to birds.
The number of myrmecochorous species is similar to that of bird-disseminated species, because elaiosomes/small arils occur on the seeds of more than ten of the species and some of the fleshy fruits are smaller and duller-hued than those typically attractive to birds.
The commonest of the myrmecochorous species is Acacia rostellifera in stunted form, which forms clumped (clonal) shrubs about 1.2 meters high.
There are up to 15 indigenous species bearing fleshy fruits in this plant community, which is an unusually large number for southwestern Australia. This would somewhat emulate vine-thicket were it not for the fact that many of the present species have halophytic affinities rather than the affinities with rainforests expected in vine-thicket.
The commonest of the non-halophytic species with fleshy fruits is Billardiera heterophylla. This is fairly common in the site and, although liane-like, effectively forms domed shrubs with dense crowns, one meter high.
The overall result:
In this plant community, the approximately 30 species disseminated by animals are about evenly balanced between myrmecochorous and endozoochorous, with ambivalent diaspores in members of Amaranthaceae, Epacridaceae, Lauraceae, Mimosaceae and Polygonaceae.
The following list is arranged in alphabetical order by families/genera/species.
AIZOACEAE
Carpobrotus virescens FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/511201-Carpobrotus-virescens
Tetragonia implexicoma FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/407885-Tetragonia-implexicoma and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66940816
AMARANTHACEAE
Atriplex paludosa ssp. baudinii https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/502243-Atriplex-paludosa
Chenopodium baccatum FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/511299-Chenopodium-baccatum and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73296454
Chenopodium wilsonii FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1047741-Chenopodium-wilsonii and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106408468
Enchylaena tomentosa small FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/369256-Enchylaena-tomentosa
Suaeda australis https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/353651-Suaeda-australis
Threlkeldia diffusa FF/E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/481549-Threlkeldia-diffusa and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12376169 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37631472
APIACEAE
Daucus glochidiatus https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210346-Daucus-glochidiatus
Trachymene pilosa https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/511206-Trachymene-pilosa
ASPARAGACEAE
*Asparagus asparagoides FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/64107-Asparagus-asparagoides
Thysanotus patersonii E? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/323937-Thysanotus-patersonii and https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/59350/8/02chapters1-4.pdf
ASPHODELACEAE
Dianella revoluta FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210175-Dianella-revoluta and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102860491
ASTERACEAE
Olearia axillaris https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/428475-Olearia-axillaris
Senecio lautus ssp. dissectifolius https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/323168-Senecio-lautus
Sonchus oleraceus https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53294-Sonchus-oleraceus
BRASSICACEAE
*Brassica tournefortii https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75870-Brassica-tournefortii
CRASSULACEAE
Crassula colorata https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/380776-Crassula-colorata
ERICACEAE
Acrotriche cordata FF/E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/323995-Acrotriche-cordata and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103359464
FABACEAE
Pultenaea barbata E https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/105544808
GERANIACEAE
Pelargonium littorale https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/735460-Pelargonium-littorale
GOODENIACEAE
Scaevola crassifolia E? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/481347-Scaevola-crassifolia
LAMIACEAE
Westringia dampieri E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/468632-Westringia-dampieri
LAURACEAE
Cassytha melantha FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/733735-Cassytha-melantha and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/71931219
Cassytha filiformis FF/E https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60270940
MALVACEAE
Guichenotia ledifolia E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/545382-Guichenotia-ledifolia
Lasiopetalum discolor E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/565115-Lasiopetalum-discolor
MIMOSACEAE
Acacia cochlearis E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53345-Acacia-cochlearis
Acacia cyclops large aril functionally similar to fleshy fruit https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75249-Acacia-cyclops
Acacia rostellifera E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/927752-Acacia-rostellifera
MYRTACEAE
Eucalyptus angulosa https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/208143-Eucalyptus-angulosa
Melaleuca lanceolata https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/465912-Melaleuca-lanceolata
Melaleuca quadrifida https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/589723-Melaleuca-quadrifida
OXALIDACEAE
Oxalis corniculata https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53168-Oxalis-corniculata
PHYLLANTHACEAE
Phyllanthus calycinus E? https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/145401-Phyllanthus-calycinus
PITTOSPORACEAE
Billardiera heterophylla FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75769-Billardiera-heterophylla
PLANTAGINACEAE
Plantago varia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/404986-Plantago-varia
POACEAE
*Avena sativa https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/57156-Avena-sativa
Austrostipa variabilis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrostipa_variabilis
POLYGONACEAE
Muehlenbeckia adpressa FF/E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/323838-Muehlenbeckia-adpressa
PORTULACACEAE
Calandrinia calyptrata https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/555999-Calandrinia-calyptrata
PRIMULACEAE
*Lysimachia arvensis https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/791928-Lysimachia-arvensis
RANUNCULACEAE
Clematis pubescens https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/145426-Clematis-pubescens
Clematis linearifolia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/896461-Clematis-linearifolia
RHAMNACEAE
Spyridium globulosum E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/803893-Spyridium-globulosum
RUBIACEAE
*Galium murale https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/59005-Galium-murale
RUTACEAE
Boronia tetrandra E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1115266-Boronia-tetrandra
SANTALACEAE
Santalum spicatum (FF) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/793376-Santalum-spicatum
SOLANACEAE
Solanum symonii FF https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/947933-Solanum-symonii and http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/efsa/lucid/Solanaceae/Solanum%20species/key/Australian%20Solanum%20species/Media/Html/Solanum_symonii.htm
THYMELAEACEAE
Pimelea clavata? E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/841593-Pimelea-clavata
Pimelea ferruginea E https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/92633287
ZYGOPHYLLACEAE
Roepera apiculata E https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/778949-Roepera-apiculata
Comments
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276919940_Seed_release_and_dispersal_in_southwestern_Australia
The flora of Fitzgerald River National Park is rich (1748 species, https://www.awe.gov.au/parks-heritage/heritage/places/national/fitzgerald-river-national-park#:~:text=The%20national%20park%20supports%20a,within%20the%20park%27s%20297%2C244%20hectares.), but contains remarkably few lianes: Billardiera spp., Convolvulus erubescens, Cassytha spp., Glycine clandestina, Kennedia nigricans, Hardenbergia comptoniana, Comesperma volubile, C. integerrima, Muehlenbeckia adpressa, and Clematis spp. It is noteworthy that at least six of these occur in the site described above.
I recorded the following bird species in this site:
Cracticus torquatus
Pomatostomus supercilosus
Phylidonyris novaehollandiae
Lichenostomus virescens
Lichmera indistincta
Colluricincla harmonica
Zosterops lateralis
Malurus pulchellus
Stipiturus malachurus
Sericornis frontalis
Emblema oculata
Jerome Patrick Bull 2006
The ecological significance of frugivorous animals as seed vectors of fleshy-fruited plants in High diversity ecosystems of south-western Australia
https://api.research-repository.uwa.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/48829500/Bull_Jerome_Patrick_2006_compressed.pdf
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