The effect of deceptive fruits on predispersal seed predation by birds in Pistacia lentiscus

Deceptive fruits (fruits containing empty seeds and seedless fruits) in the dioecious shrub Pistacia lentiscus L. (Anacardiaceae) remain attached to t he plant throughout the dispersal season. This study addresses the hypothes is that deceptive fruits may contribute to parental fitness by reducing pre dispersal seed predation by granivorous birds because these fruits represen t handling costs to predators and they prefer to forage selectively on shru bs with filled fruits. This study was run in two populations of P. lentiscu s and finds that deceptive fruits reduce seed predation by granivorous bird s but only in the population that presented higher P. lentiscus female dens ity, and a higher variability in the percentage of deceptive fruits among P . lentiscus females. Under this scenario, the benefits of flying to another female might be higher than those of remaining in the same female searchin g filled seeds. By contrast, the costs of flying to other females, when the y are scarce and have a similar percentage of deceptive fruits may be highe r than the benefits.