This study aims to evaluate how seed predation of three native tree species (Mimosa scabrella Bentham, Prunus sellowii Koehne, and Myrsine laetevirens Mez.) could be altered along an edge between Araucaria forest and pasture at the National Forest of São Francisco de Paula, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Groups of seeds were placed at ten random points in each of the following distances from the forest edge: 0m, 25m, 50m, 100m, and 250m from the edge into the forest, and 5m and 50m from the edge into the pasture. Seeds were monitored until total predation or until their time for germination was over. Seed predation rates decreased from the edge up to 50m inside the forest in relation to the forest interior and open pasture. M. scabrella and M. laetevirens showed a reduction in seed predation rates in pasture points that were located at the vicinities of the forest. The results indicated a decrease in the activity of seed predators near the forest edge, which could enhance plant community regeneration at the edge, and promote the expansion of the forest towards the adjacent pasture.
seed predators; edge effects; seedling recruitment; Araucaria forest
