Granivory of birds and seed dispersal : viable seeds of Amaranthus retroflexus L. recovered from the droppings of the Grey Patridge Perdix perdix L.

The droppings of the Grey Partridge Perdix perdix L. wintering on a set-aside field were found to contain 99.3% of Amaranthus retroflexus and 0.7% of Chenopodium album seed coat fragments. A bird consumed on average 3008 ([plus or minus] 95% CL = 2699-3317) weed seeds per 1 g of droppings. The excreted seed coat remnants made up c. 21% of the swallowed seed mass. Approximately 0.3% of the ingested seeds passed undamaged through the gut. The number of undamaged seeds in the droppings was not significantly correlated with the weight of droppings and the amount of the excreted sand grains, seed coat fragments and other plant parts. After over 1.5 years of storage, 3 out of 18 sown undamaged seeds of A. retroflexus germinated. The average germination time of the excreted seeds was 10 days, while for the fresh ones it amounted to 8.5 days. Our results shows that the Gray Partridge is poor seed disperser and it play important role as predator of A. retroflexus seeds.