Interactions between a large community of vertebrate frugivore-granivores (including 7 species of large canopy birds, 19 species of rodents, 7 species of ruminants, and 6 species of monkeys), and 122 fruit species they consume, were studied for a year in a tropical rainforest in Gabon.The results show how morphological characters of fruits are involved in the choice and partitioning of the available fruit spectrum among consumer taxa. Despite an outstanding lack of specificity between fruit and consumer species, consideration of simple morphological traits of fruits reveals broad character syndromes associated with different consumer taxa. Competition between distantly related taxa that feed at the same height is far more important than has been previously supposed. The results also suggest how fruit characters could have evolved under consumer pressure as a result of consumer roles as dispersers or seed predators. Our analyses of dispersal syndromes show that fruit species partitioning occurs more between mammal taxa than between mammals and birds. There is thus a bird-monkey syndrome and a ruminant-rodent-elephant syndrome. The bird-monkey syndrome includes fruit species on which there is no pre-dispersal seed predation. These fruits (berries and drupes) are brightly colored, have a succulent pulp or arillate seeds, and no protective seed cover. The ruminant-rodent-elephant syndrome includes species for which there is pre-dispersal predation. These fruits (all drupes) are large, dull-colored, and have a dry fibrous flesh and well-protected seeds.

The diets of three major groups of frugivores-folivores of an African rain forest (squirrels, ruminants, primates) are compared and the relationship of food habits to body weight, habitat and foraging height examined. A number of common trends in the trophic patterns are found in the three groups. Over half of the fruit species identified in the diets of any one taxon are exploited in common with one or more of the others. The parts of fruit usually eaten are different for each group but for a number of species, the same fruit parts are searched for by the species of the three taxa.

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Red acouchies were observed in French Guiana, and compared with agoutis. Acouchies frequent all forest habitats except disturbed areas. Strictly diurnal, they show most activity in early morning. Males prefer open forests, females closed habitats. The size of home ranges and the level of activity decrease in the dry season when food resources are at a minimum. The social unit is the family, one male and one female with juveniles. Family units are separated from each other. Each individual occupies a small home range which has several much‐frequented areas and many resting places, often located in hollow logs and consisting of one nest in use and several old leafheaps. There are no food reserves in the nest: fruits are buried over the whole home range. Within each social unit, every individual mainly lives alone and home ranges have little overlap. The percentage of males decreases from the juvenile to the adult stage. Populations show large year to year density variations. The red acouchy is not similar to the agouti, but instead represents an unique adaptation among the terrestrial forest herbivores.

The diets of the two Amazonian brocket deer (the red brocket Mazama americana and the grey brocket Mazama gouazoubira) were studied in French Guiana through the examination of stomach contents. The two species are mainly frugivore^granivores, even during the annual period of fruit scarcity (56% of the annual diet in red brockets and 68% in grey brockets). Both rely heavily on fruits and seeds, but overcome the fall in fruit availability by eating significant quantities of fibres, leaves and flowers, particularly the red brocket. Seasonal variation in quantity consumed was observed only for gravid females, which suggests that reproduction may be dependent on the fruiting season. Both species took a wide variety of plants (respectively a total of 79 and 107 species, and 8.4 and 8.9 species per stomach on average). They can be considered non-selective feeders, choosing fruits above all according to their abundance, their size, and perhaps their softness. Both species are seed eaters, destroying nearly all seeds ingested. The two species are potential competitors, but their diet competition may be reduced by their large difference in body size and somewhat different ecological niches. These deer are among the most generalized frugivores of the Guianan forest, thus reducing their food competition with other frugivores.

The diets of the acouchy Myoprocta exilis, agouti Dasyprocta leporina and paca Agouti paca, the three largest terrestrial rodents of French Guiana forests, were investigated from stomachs collected over several years. These species are primarily frugivores. The percentage of fruit in their diet decreased, and seasonal variation increased from the smallest species, the acouchy, to the largest, the paca (contents in dry mass: respectively, 98.5% ± 0.6%, 87.4% ± 3.5%, and 83.9% ± 7.6%). They differed from each other in the proportions of pulp and secondary foods (leaves, fibre, insects) consumed annually as well as seasonally. Dietary diversity in the acouchy was half that of the two other species. The seasonal variation in consumption of different fruit parts and of secondary foods by these species corresponded well with the fruit production in the forest, and was linked to their reproductive events. Overall, the diets of these three large rodents appeared intermediate between the small rodent species and the artiodactyls (peccaries and brocket deer) inhabiting the same areas, which also concords with their body mass and their place within the guild of terrestrial mammals.

With 7 figures in the text)The three most important primates of French Guiana are frugivorous species, but to different degrees. Ateles paniscus is almost exclusively frugivorous, Alouatta seniculus frugivorousfolivorous, and Cehus apellu partially insectivorous; thus, the overall specific diet spectra arc well separated. During the season when fruit production is minimal, fruit intake by all species is also minimal which results in the greatest diversities in diet and the lowest diet overlaps. Real competition for the common main food category, i.e. fruits, only occurs during the most favourable period. Nevertheless, some fruit characteristics (e.g. size. . .) separate the monkey species from each other in fruit choice and make the interspecific competition of little importance.

The blue duiker is a small, frugivorous, strictly diurnal ruminant that occupies forest with open undergrowth. The social group consists of a ♂‐♀ pair with the young of the last two litters. Pairs seem permanent in small territories adjacent to each other, without any noticeable overlap. The population density is high. The life style adopted by the blue duiker represents an exception among forest ruminants, and appears to be a well adapted response to various ecological pressures, especially predation.