This study was carried out to identify the proportions between the dispersal syndromes and fruit types found in three regions: source (rupestrian cerrado), middle zone and estuary (riparian semideciduous forest) along the River Pindaíba-MT. At the source, 55.6% of shrub-tree species are zoochoric, 43% are anemochoric and only 1.4% are autochoric. In the middle zone, 85.7% of species are zoochoric, 11.7% anemochoric and only 1.3% are autochoric. At the estuary of River Pindaíba, we found 77.5% of zoochoric species, 20% of anemochory and only 2.5% of autochory. Our hypothesis for the study was that, in open areas (source), the proportion of anemochoric species would be higher than in closed environments (middle zone and mouth), with the predominance of zoochory . However, there was no significant difference in the proportions of anemochoric and zoochoric species for the source (rupestrian cerrado), whereas in the middle zone and at the estuary(riparian), the proportions of zoochory were higher. Forest environments, which are structurally more complex with less wind circulation and lower light incidence, require dispersion strategies more directed and predictable, such as zoochory.
Seed dispersal; seed ecology; riparian forest
