Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities

ABSTRACTEndozoochory, a mutualistic interaction between plants and frugivores, is one of the key processes responsible for maintenance of tropical biodiversity. Islands, which have a smaller subset of plants and frugivores when compared with mainland communities, offer an interesting setting to understand the organization of plant-frugivore communities vis-a-vis the mainland sites. We examined the relative influence of functional traits and phylogenetic relationships on the plant-seed disperser interactions on an island and a mainland site. The island site allowed us to investigate the organization of the plant-seed disperser community in the natural absence of key frugivore groups (bulbuls and barbets) of Asian tropics. The endemic Narcondam Hornbill, was the most abundant frugivore on the island and played a central role in the community. Species strength, a measure of relevance of frugivores for plants, of frugivores was positively associated with their abundance. Among plants, figs had the highest species strength and played a central role in the community. Island-mainland comparison revealed that the island plant-seed disperser community was more asymmetric, connected and nested as compared to the mainland community. Neither phylogenetic relationships or functional traits (after controlling for phylogenetic relationships) were able to explain the patterns of interactions between plants and frugivores on the island or the mainland pointing towards the diffused nature of plant-frugivore interactions. The diffused nature is a likely consequence of plasticity in foraging behavior and trait convergence that contribute to governing the interactions between plants and frugivores.

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Are fragments fruitful? A comparison of plant–seed disperser communities between fragments and contiguous forest in north‐east India

Biotropica ◽

10.1111/btp.12985 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Abir Jain ◽

Navendu V. Page ◽

Gopal S. Rawat ◽

Rohit Naniwadekar

Keyword(s):

Plant Seed ◽

North East India ◽

Seed Disperser ◽

North East

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Early effects of rodent post-dispersal seed predation on the outcome of the plant-seed disperser interaction

Oikos ◽

10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.880215.x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 88 (2) ◽

pp. 362-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

Julio M. Alcántara ◽

Pedro J. Rey ◽

Alfonso M. Sánchez-Lafuente ◽

Francisco Valera

Keyword(s):

Seed Predation ◽

Plant Seed ◽

Seed Disperser ◽

Early Effects

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Plant-Animal Interactions

Monteverde ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195095609.003.0014 ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

K. Greg Murray ◽

Sharon Kinsman

Keyword(s):

Seed Dispersal ◽

Fleshy Fruit ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Plant Seed ◽

Seed Disperser ◽

Nesting Sites ◽

Plant Animal Interactions ◽

Whole Plants ◽

Plant Herbivore ◽

Plant Pollinator

The term “plant-animal interactions” includes a diverse array of biologically important relationships. Plant-herbivore relationships (in which an animal feeds on whole plants or parts of them) are examples of exploitation, because one species benefits from the interaction while the other suffers. Plant-pollinator and plant-seed disperser relationships (in which animals disperse pollen or seeds, usually in return for a food reward) are examples of mutualisms because they are beneficial to both parties. Another class of plant-animal mutualisms involves plants that provide nesting sites and/or food rewards to ants, which often protect the plant from herbivores or competing plants. Plantpollinator and plant-seed disperser mutualisms probably originated as cases of exploitation of plants by animals (Thompson 1982, Crepet 1983, Tiffney 1986). Many of the distinctive plant structures associated with animal-mediated pollen and seed dispersal (e.g., flowers, nectaries, attractive odors, fleshy fruit pulp, and thickened seed coats) presumably evolved to attract consumers of floral or seed resources while preventing them from digesting the pollen or seeds. mutualisms in structuring ecological communities. Competition and predator-prey interactions were more common subjects. Botanists had described the characteristics of the plant and animal players in pollination and seed dispersal mutualisms (Knuth 1906, 1908, 1909, Ridley 1930, van der Pijl 1969, Faegri and van der Pijl 1979), but these descriptive works did not fully examine plant-animal mutualisms in the context of communities. The opportunity to work in the neotropics, facilitated by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), and other institutions, attracted the attention of temperate-zone ecologists to the mutualisms that are much more conspicuous components of tropical systems than of temperate ones (Wheelwright 1988b). Plant-pollinator interactions have attracted more attention in Monteverde than plant-frugivore interactions, and plant-herbivore interactions remain conspicuously understudied. This imbalance probably reflects the interests of those who first worked at Monteverde and later returned with their own students, rather than differences in the significance of the interactions at Monteverde or elsewhere. Aside from a few studies of herbivory in particular species (e.g., Peck, “Agroecology of Prosapia,”), even basic surveys remain to be done.

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Fruit advertisement strategies in two Neotropical plant–seed disperser markets

Evolutionary Ecology ◽

10.1007/s10682-015-9766-7 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 489-509 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Kalliope E. Stournaras ◽

Richard O. Prum ◽

H. Martin Schaefer

Keyword(s):

Plant Seed ◽

Seed Disperser

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Geographical ecology and variation of plant-seed disperser interactions: southern Spanish junipers and frugivorous thrushes

Frugivory and seed dispersal: ecological and evolutionary aspects ◽

10.1007/978-94-011-1749-4_6 ◽

1993 ◽

pp. 85-104 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Pedro Jordano

Keyword(s):

Plant Seed ◽

Seed Disperser ◽

Geographical Ecology

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Relative influence of environmental, stand factors and functional traits on allocation of forest productivity during the restoration of subtropical forests in central China

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118814 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 482 ◽

pp. 118814

Author(s):

Shupeng Ma ◽

Xiangping Wang ◽

Wenhao Miao ◽

Xuemei Wang ◽

Haozhe Sun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Traits ◽

Forest Productivity ◽

Central China ◽

Relative Influence ◽

Subtropical Forests

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Frugivory by the White-bearded Manakin (Manacus manacus, Pipridae) in restinga forest, an ecosystem associated to the Atlantic forest

Biota Neotropica ◽

10.1590/s1676-06032013000200038 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 345-350 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

César Cestari ◽

Marco Aurélio Pizo

Keyword(s):

Foraging Behavior ◽

Atlantic Forest ◽

Forest Canopy ◽

The State ◽

Southern Coast ◽

Neotropical Forests ◽

Seed Disperser ◽

Plant Families ◽

Manacus Manacus ◽

Unripe Fruits

Manakins (Pipridae) are one of the most abundant fruit-eaters and seed dispersers in the understory of neotropical forests. We describe the fruit diet of the White-beaded Manakin (Manacus manacus) based on a two-year study of its foraging behavior on fruiting plants, collecting seeds from feces and regurgitations of trapped individuals, and from lekking males' courts in restinga forests at the southern coast of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Manacus manacus consumed 58 species of fruits from 30 different plant families. Fruits were taken at 3.5 ± 1.9 m height and 1.5 ± 1.6 m below the forest canopy using mainly sally-strike and glean manoeuvres. Most of the fruits were berries ranging from 3.1 to 17 mm in diameter and containing from 1 to 86 seeds. Fruits up to 12 mm in diameter were swallowed whole. Ripe and unripe fruits were equally consumed. Our results corroborate with the great variety of small fruits consumed by manakin species, and indicate that M. manacus is an important seed disperser, potentially contributing to recruitment of plants in restinga.

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Architecture of Radiolitid Rudist (Mollusca) Shell-Wall Structures and its Phylogenetic Implications

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100117054 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 686-687

Author(s):

David H. Sturm ◽

Bob F. Perkins

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Relationships ◽

Outer Wall ◽

Shell Microstructure ◽

Shell Wall ◽

Wall Structures ◽

Phylogenetic Implications ◽

Cellular Wall ◽

Superfamily Analysis ◽

Central Texas

Each of the seven families of rudists (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Hippuritacea) is characterized by distinctive shell-wall architectures which reflect phylogenetic relationships within the superfamily. Analysis of the complex, calcareous, cellular wall of the attached valve of the radiolite rudist Eoradiolites davidsoni (Hill) from the Comanche Cretaceous of Central Texas indicates that its wall architecture is an elaboration of the simpler monopleurid rudist wall and supports possible radiolite-monopleurid relationships.Several well-preserved specimens of E. davidsoni were sectioned, polished, etched, and carbon and gold coated for SEM examination. Maximum shell microstructure detail was displayed by etching with a 0.7% HC1 solution from 80 to 100 seconds.The shell of E. davidsoni comprises a large, thick-walled, conical, attached valve (AV) and a small, very thin, operculate, free valve (FV) (Fig. 1a). The AV shell is two-layered with a thin inner wall, in which original structures are usually obliterated by recrystallization, and a thick, cellular, outer wall.

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