Tropical home gardens are widely recognized as reservoirs of biodiversity. Typically, Maya home gardens have an area of intensive management and one of extensive management. In the latter, some wild plant species may find safe sites for establishment, since they exhibit a high degree of similarity (in terms in plant species composition) to the surrounding forest and are dominated by plants with fleshy fruit. Therefore, this may attract frugivorous animals, which in turn may generate some seed rain. The objective of our study was to compare seed rain in the extensively managed areas of home gardens and in the surrounding forest during the fruiting peak in a rural landscape in the Yucatan. We assessed seed rain using seed traps in two habitats: the extensively managed areas of home gardens and an adjacent tropical forest. Seed rain was more abundant, denser and more diverse in the home gardens than in the adjacent forest. Approximately one quarter of the seeds recorded are from species shared between the forest and home gardens, suggesting there is notable seed exchange between these habitats. Also 50% of the seed species exclusively found in home gardens are allochthonous, likely rare species from the forest. In general, our results suggest that home gardens—particularly their extensively managed areas—are effective seed traps for forest species.

中文翻译：

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尤卡坦半岛热带干燥森林和邻近家庭花园中的种子雨

热带家庭花园被广泛认为是生物多样性的蓄水池。通常，玛雅家庭花园有一个集约管理的区域和一个粗放管理的区域。在后者中，一些野生植物物种可能会找到安全的建立地点，因为它们与周围的森林表现出高度的相似性（在植物物种组成方面），并且以肉质果实的植物为主。因此，这可能会吸引食果动物，进而可能产生一些种子雨。我们研究的目的是比较尤卡坦州农村景观中果实累累高峰期家庭花园的广泛管理区域和周围森林中的种子雨。我们在两个栖息地使用种子陷阱评估了种子雨：家庭花园的广泛管理区域和相邻的热带森林。种雨更加充沛，家庭花园比邻近的森林更密集、更多样化。记录的种子中约有四分之一来自森林和家庭花园之间共享的物种，这表明这些栖息地之间存在显着的种子交换。此外，仅在家庭花园中发现的 50% 的种子物种是外来的，可能是森林中的稀有物种。总的来说，我们的结果表明，家庭花园——尤其是其广泛管理的区域——是森林物种的有效种子陷阱。可能是森林中的稀有物种。总的来说，我们的结果表明，家庭花园——尤其是其广泛管理的区域——是森林物种的有效种子陷阱。可能是森林中的稀有物种。总的来说，我们的结果表明，家庭花园——尤其是其广泛管理的区域——是森林物种的有效种子陷阱。