Consumption of Euterpe edulis fruit by wildlife: implications for conservation and management of the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Silva, Juliano Z. Da; Reis, Maurício Sedrez dos

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201920180537

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…However, previous work has shown that birds act more frequently than mammals as seed dispersers of E. edulis (Galetti et al., 2013). Moreover, field studies have shown that secondary dispersal by mammals such as rodents (da Silva & dos Reis, 2019) or ungulates (Keuroghlian & Eaton, 2009) often results in damaged seeds. Trophic rewiring, or the establishment of novel interactions among species with no prior history of co‐occurrence, could compensate the loss of original partners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change reshapes the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of a Neotropical seed dispersal system

Sales

Kissling

Galetti³

et al. 2021

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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Aim Global changes will redistribute biodiversity, reshaping ecological interactions and ecosystem processes. The decoupling in the distribution of plants and their mutualistic seed dispersers, for instance, may have overlooked eco‐evolutionary effects. How animal‐dispersed plants will respond to changes in the distribution of their seed dispersers remains largely an open question. Here, we forecast the consequences of climate change and frugivory interactions for the spatial distribution and seed size evolution of a Neotropical palm species. Location Atlantic forests of South America. Time period Present day, end of 21st century. Major taxa studied Thirty‐two species of frugivorous birds, and a palm (Euterpe edulis). Methods Future patterns of animal–plant co‐occurrence were derived from ecological niche models, climate forecasts, projections of future forest loss, and seed dispersal simulations. We further explored the evolutionary effect of the spatial reorganization of interactions by modelling palm seed sizes as a function of changes in the distribution of frugivore traits. Results Our models indicate that future climate change and deforestation may reduce the palm’s suitable distribution by 20%–50%. However, our simulations suggest that 66% of all remaining future suitable distribution (76,200 km2) would still be inaccessible to the palm without the active dispersal of seeds by frugivores. In addition, novel frugivore communities are projected to have smaller mean body mass and gape size (−23% and −10%, respectively), due to the loss of large frugivores, which may translate into a 6%–17% reduction of seed sizes across the palm’s remaining distribution. Main conclusions Our projections indicate that frugivore seed dispersal may be critical to allow occupancy of future habitat by animal‐dispersed plants. However, loss of large frugivores may affect trait selection regimes, creating hotspots of plant evolution towards smaller seeds. We argue that such complex dynamics emerging from species‐specific responses to global change may reshape the distribution and evolution of several interacting partners worldwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change reshapes the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of a Neotropical seed dispersal system

Sales

Kissling

Galetti³

et al. 2021

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

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“…Artibeus spp., Tapirus terrestris , Dasyprocta spp.) which mostly disperse their seeds (Galetti et al 2013, Silva and Reis 2019). However, some species are not legitimate dispersers, because they either prey upon the seeds, such as the parakeets Brotogeris tirica and Pyrrhura frontalis , or only consume pulp, such as tanagers ( Tangara spp).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The individual‐based network structure of palm‐seed dispersers is explained by a rainforest gradient

Friedemann

Côrtes

Castro

et al. 2021

Oikos

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ECHow species interactions change in space and time is a major question in ecology. In tropical forests, plant individuals share mutualistic partners (pollinators or seed dispersers), yet we have little understanding of the factors affecting these individual interaction patterns. We used a seed dispersal individual-based network describing interactions between individuals of a palm species and bird species to investigate how intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of individual plants influence the network structure. We evaluated if average canopy height, number of fruits, distance to forest gap and habitat type influence the role of palm individuals in the network. From 102 palms, 62 individuals had their seeds dispersed at least once: 17 individual palms in the restinga, 15 in the lowland and 30 in the pre-montane habitat. Twelve bird species were recorded dispersing Euterpe edulis seeds. No palm characteristics influenced interaction patterns in the network, characterized by the level of centrality of each palm. At the network level, modularity with qualitative data was reproduced by the null models which consider the variation in the number and distribution across interactions. Three of the seven identified modules were associated with a particular habitat. Indeed, habitat type explained 50% of network modularity. Habitat association with modularity was driven by differences in species composition across habitats. Palm individuals did not differ greatly in central positions, indicating that bird species are not selecting palm individuals by their characteristics. When using the weighted network, modularity level was higher than expected by the number of interactions, and frequency of interactions was positively correlated with canopy height. Our results suggest that the organization of this individual-based network is mostly driven by habitat type. We hypothesize that extrinsic characteristics, such as habitat type, may affect the network organization of populations of sessile organisms with potentially unanticipated consequences to ecological and evolutionary dynamics.

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“…The possible decrease in fruit provision to such animals due to fruit harvesting or the death of large individuals due to palm heart extraction may trigger changes in community functioning and the overall forest structure, including cascading effects (Barlow et al, 2006;Fernandez et al, 2012;Muler et al, 2014). Some studies have shown that harvesting of palm heart and fruits from palm species, including E. edulis, is associated with a reduction in the occurrence, richness, and permanence time of seeddispersing birds in impacted locations (Galetti and Aleixo, 1998;Moegenburg and Levey, 2003;Muler et al, 2014;Silva and Reis, 2019). As several bird species are also seed dispersers of other late-successional plant species, forest regeneration can be compromised (Rother et al, 2016).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the impacts of palm heart and fruit harvesting using Integral Projection Models

Mendes

Galdino²,

Portela³

2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Due to the increasing human impact on natural resources, we assessed the harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFP) to verify demographic changes in populations of native palm trees. Euterpe edulis is native to the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, characterized by high deforestation and fragmentation. This palm is also targeted for palm heart and fruit harvesting. The threats posed by such factors motivated this study, as they might lead to a decrease in natural populations. The viability of sustainably harvesting the species in small fragmented areas is unknown. We performed simulations for palm heart and fruit harvesting in three small populations (entitled: SH, AJ, and ES) sampled in a 1-year interval (2010–2011) to verify whether these practices were sustainable. Different harvesting scenarios were simulated: (1) no harvesting; (2) harvesting of palm heart of reproductive individuals; (3) harvesting of palm heart of large individuals (diameter at ground level > 65 mm, including reproductive or not). and (4) fruit harvesting. Each scenario was simulated at different harvesting intensities (percentage of individuals or fruits harvested). Integral projection models were used to calculate two demographic parameters, namely, population growth rate (λ) and elasticity. In the no harvesting scenario, the populations had λ > 1 (SH = 1.0655, AJ = 1.0184, and ES = 1.0862). Palm heart harvesting proved to be sustainable in both scenarios, but at a higher intensity in scenario (2) (SH = 83%, AJ = 14%, and ES = 35%) than in scenario (3) (SH = 17%, AJ = 4%, and ES = 16%). Fruit harvesting was sustainable at any intensity for all three populations. As the survival of large individuals has a high impact on λ, palm heart harvesting was in most cases sustainable only at low intensities. In contrast, as fecundity and seedling survival have a low impact on λ, fruit harvesting still proved sustainable at high intensities. Although the populations are tolerant to harvesting to some degree, it must be conducted carefully. As populations are fragile due to the current condition of reduced population size, the removal of palms at any rate can affect population persistence and generate possible cascade effects on the forest.

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Consumption of Euterpe edulis fruit by wildlife: implications for conservation and management of the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Cited by 13 publications

References 38 publications

Climate change reshapes the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of a Neotropical seed dispersal system

Climate change reshapes the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of a Neotropical seed dispersal system

The individual‐based network structure of palm‐seed dispersers is explained by a rainforest gradient

Predicting the impacts of palm heart and fruit harvesting using Integral Projection Models

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