Woodland managers in northern Chile require efficient means of estimating fruit production to improve their ability to sustainably manage mesquite tree ecosystem. We assessed the accuracy of the indirect visual count (VC) method for quantifying fruit production of two endangered mesquite trees, tamarugo (Prosopis tamarugo) and algarrobo (Prosopis alba), by comparing it with the fruit trap (FT) method, during three fruit dissemination periods. We studied two natural populations of trees of P. tamarugo and P. alba in the Pampa del Tamarugal ecosystem, Atacama Desert, northern Chile. We placed FTs beneath the crowns of the trees to measure the fruit crop during the mast dissemination period. The VC method was performed at the same trees used for FT. We used linear regressions and coefficient of variation to assess the relationship between the two methods. There was a positive correlation between both methodologies in all three periods for P. alba, but the relationship for P. tamarugo was not statistically significant. Analysis of the variability in fruit production estimates using the FT method showed significant interannual differences for P. tamarugo and significant differences among individuals for both species. The VC method had better results for fruit production in P. alba, whereas the use of the FT method is more suitable for P. tamarugo.

智利北部的林地管理者需要有效的方法来估计水果产量，以提高其可持续管理豆科灌木树生态系统的能力。我们通过与水果陷阱（FT）方法进行比较，在三种水果期间比较了间接视觉计数（VC）方法的准确性，该方法用于定量两种濒危豆科灌木树种塔马鲁戈（Prosopis tamarugo）和阿尔加罗波（Prosopis alba）的果实产量传播时期。我们研究了P. tamarugo和P. alba的两种自然种群在智利北部阿塔卡马沙漠的潘帕德尔塔玛鲁格生态系统中。我们将FT放在树冠的下面，以测量在桅杆传播期间的果实产量。VC方法是在用于FT的相同树上执行的。我们使用线性回归和变异系数来评估两种方法之间的关系。在所有三个时期中，两种方法之间的P. alba呈正相关，但与P. tamarugo的关系在统计学上不显着。使用FT方法对水果产量估计值的变异性进行分析表明，塔玛鲁戈（P. tamarugo）的年际差异显着两种物种之间的个体差异也很大。VC法对白果果实的生产具有更好的结果，而FT法的使用更适合于塔马鲁戈果。