FSD 2010 - Cassowaries

5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (1985-2010)

Cassowaries (Casuarius spp.)

There are three species recognized today :

the Southern Cassowary or Double-wattled cassowary C. casuarius of Australia and New Guinea;
the Dwarf Cassowary C. bennetti of New Guinea and New Britain ;
the Northern Cassowary C. unappendiculatus of New Guinea.

The Southern Cassowary was the flagship frugivore at the last FSD symposium-workshop in 2005. All cassowaries are frugivorous feeding upon fallen fruit and fruit on low branches. They also eat fungi, snails, insects, frogs, and snakes. They are a keystone species of rain forests because they eat fallen fruit whole and distribute seeds across the jungle floor via excrement, thus acting as seed dispersers (Bradford et al. 2008, Westcott et al. 2008; see also Dennis and Wescott 2007) Overall, they disperse seeds that are smaller and rounder than in tropical America and Africa (Forget et al. 2007). Unfortunately, as for many other tropical frugivores throughout the planet, loss of their habitat owing to the destruction of rainforest is responsible for their decline. In Queensland Australia, for instance, Mission Beach has experienced the greatest amount of lowland rainforest clearing in the last two decades. In the Mission Beach area alone, Cassowaries have lost about 50% of their critical habitat in the past ten years. The survival of many rainforest trees is tied to the Cassowary's survival (Bradford et al. 2008; see also Mack 1995).

About Cassowary and Mackinlaya fruit

Websites

Wikipedia

Australian Museum

Australian Animals

David A. Wescott at CSIRO

Selected Published References

Bradford, M. G., Dennis, A. J. & Westcott, D. A. (2008) Diet and dietary preferences of the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) in North Queensland, Australia. Biotropica 40: 338-343. Abstract.

Westcott, D. A., Setter, M., Bradford, M. A., McKeown, A., & Setter , S. (2008) Cassowary dispersal of the invasive pond apple in a tropical rainforest: the contribution of subordinate dispersal modes in invasion. Diversity and Distributions 14: 432-439. Abstract.

Mack, A. L. (1995) Distance and non-randomness of seed dispersal by the dwarf cassowary Casuarius bennetti. Ecography 18: 286 - 295. Abstract.

Dennis, A. J. & Westcott D. A. (2007) Estimating dispersal kernels produced by a diverse community of vertebrates. Pp 201-228. In, Dennis, A. J., Green, R, Schupp, E., Westcott, D. A. (eds) Frugivory and Seed Dispersal: Theory and its Application in a changing world, CAB International Publishing, Wallingford.

Forget, P.-M., Dennis, A. J., Mazer, S., Jansen, P. A., Lambert, J. E. & Westcott, D. A. (2007) Seed allometry and frugivore size: a global comparison of patterns in tropical rainforests. Pp 5-36. In, Dennis, A. J., Green, R, Schupp, E., Westcott, D. A. (eds) Frugivory and Seed Dispersal: Theory and its Application in a changing world, CAB International Publishing, Wallingford.

Illustration credit : Northern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius, Pierre-Michel Forget, Mission Beach, North Queensland, July 2005. See also in Gallery : Frugivores - Fruits and Seeds