The rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by scattering seeds

A crucial link in the life cycle of a single parasitic plant can be found in a surprising place – the womb of the offspring of an ancient line of tunnels.

As they graze in gardens and dart across suburban lawns, it can be easy to forget that rabbits are wild. But a living reminder of its wildness can be found on two of Japan’s Ryukyu islands, if you have the patience to look for it: the endangered Amami rabbit, a “living fossil” that looks remarkably like ancient Asian rabbits.

One estimate suggests that fewer than 5,000 of the animals are left in the wild. Lives of LovePentalagus furnace) are shrouded in mystery because of their rarity, but they seem to have a surprising ecological role as seed dispersers, researchers report on January 23. Ecology.

Seed dispersal is a key point in the life cycle of a plant when it can move to a new location (SN: 11/14/22). So dispersal is important for understanding how plant populations are maintained and species respond to climate change, says Haldre Rogers, a biologist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who was not involved in the study. Although this seed is not widely distributed, he says. We do not know what disperses the seeds of most plants in the world.

Locals from the Ryukyu Islands were the first to notice that the “iconic yet endangered” Amami rabbit was grazing on the fruits of another local species, the plant Balanophora yuwanensissaid Kenji Suetsugu, a biologist at Kobe University in Japan.

Rabbits generally like to eat from the vegetative tissue of plants, such as leaves and stems, and therefore do not contribute much to the dispersal of seeds, which are often involved in fleshy fruits.

In order to confirm what the residents had told them, Suetsugu and his student Hiromu Hashiwaki set up camera traps around the island to actually catch the rabbits. The researchers were able to observe the hares while chewing Balanophora fruits 11 times, but we still need to check the seeds of their journey through the need to survive tummies.

So the team headed for the subtropical islands and flew in and found the rabbit’s tail Balanophora inside the seeds that have yet to grow. Swallowing seeds and pooping elsewhere, Amami rabbits are clearly digesting the seed.

Balanophora they are parasitic plants and do not have chlorophyll, so they cannot use photosynthesis to make their own food.SN: 3/2/17). Instead, they suck energy from the host plant. This means where the seeds end up, and Amami rabbits “facilitate the placement of seeds near the roots of a compatible host,” pooping in underground tunnels, says Suetsugu. “So, rabbits probably provide a crucial link.” Balanophora and his army, he says, still remains to be inquired into.

Understanding the ecology of an endangered species like the Amami rabbit can help conserve both it and the plants that depend on it.

In the obvious danger to the animal is not necessary because of the change in the number of affecting the seed dispersal, with a negative potential for the ecosystem. For example, “we think of the robin as super common … but they’ve declined a lot in the last 50 years,” Rogers says. “Half as many robins means half as many seeds are going around, even though no one is worried about robins as a conservation issue.”