Generalist birds promote tropical forest regeneration and increase plant diversity via rare‐biased seed dispersal

Carlo, Tomás A.; Morales, Juan Manuel

doi:10.1890/15-2147.1

Cited by 171 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(100 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

163

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…More bird‐ than mammals‐dispersed plant species were found in our system (Table ). Birds are often the most important seed dispersers in forest fragments, and generally mediate seed dispersal at the early stage of restoration (Carlo & Morales, ; Garcia, Zamora, & Amico, ; Martínez & García, ; Pejchar et al., ), which may eventually lead to a higher proportion of bird‐dispersed plants. For example, in a study in Mexico, most of the recruited plant species in experimental regenerating forests were bird‐ or bat‐dispersed species (De La Peña‐Domene, Marttínnez‐Garza, Palmas‐Pérez, Rivas‐Alonso, & Howe, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of plants and seed dispersers in response to habitat fragmentation in an artificial island archipelago

Liu

Slik

Coomes

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Small, old‐growth forest fragments generally have more small‐seeded plants than large patches, due to the disappearance of large seed dispersing vertebrates. This pattern may differ for secondary forest fragments where differential migration ability rather than persistence of seed dispersers may be driving plant community assembly. In this study, we investigated the effect of habitat fragmentation on seed dispersers and plant community structure in regenerating forests. Location The Thousand Island Lake, China. Taxon Plants, birds and mammals. Methods We compiled diversity and abundance data for birds and mammals on islands in the Thousand Island Lake, China. We also surveyed the secondary plant communities and measured seed dispersal traits. Results Community‐weighted mean seed size of woody plants decreased with island size. This pattern was related to compositional difference of the dispersers. We found that mammal diversity and abundance was only weakly or not related to island size; whereas bird diversity and abundance increased strongly with island size. Density of bird‐dispersed plants was significantly positively related with island size. Since birds tend to disperse smaller seeds than mammals, the trend in seed size may have been a consequence of the shift in relative abundance of the two disperser guilds. Main Conclusions Differential responses of seed dispersers to habitat fragmentation may lead to pervasive shifts in the plant community structure of regenerating forest fragments. Our study highlights the importance of keeping large continuous forests in order to retain mammals and their dispersal capabilities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The distribution of plants and seed dispersers in response to habitat fragmentation in an artificial island archipelago

Liu

Slik

Coomes

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Due to the clear negative effect of patch size reduction on bird species richness, we can assume that there is an indirect effect of patch size on number of interactions. In contrast, degree variance for plants and average path length were unrelated to forest patch size, which suggests that some aspects of the network organization can persist in small fragments, perhaps because some aspects of network cohesion are maintained by bird and plant species that are insensitive to patch size reduction, like small-bodied habitat generalist birds that often thrive in degraded areas and can also act as important seed dispersers (Carlo andMorales 2016, Emer et al 2018). Summary of the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on the species-level metrics, body mass, and bird species richness and forest patch size and degree of frugivory (both occasional and obligate frugivores).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local extinctions of obligate frugivores and patch size reduction disrupt the structure of seed dispersal networks

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A central problem in ecology is to understand how human impacts affect plant-animal interactions that lead to effective seed dispersal services for plant communities. Seed dispersal services are the outcome of plant-frugivore interactions that often form local networks of interacting species. Recent work has shown that some frugivorous bird species are more critical to network organization than others. Here, we explore how patch size and the potential local extinctions of obligate frugivorous birds affect the reorganization of seed dispersal networks. We examined the structure of 20 empirical seed dispersal networks documented across tropical avian assemblages occupying widely variable habitat patch sizes, a surrogate of the amount of remaining habitat. Networks within small forest patches consistently supported both lower plant and bird species richness. Forest patch size was positively associated with nestedness, indicating that reductions in patch size disrupted the nested organization of seed dispersal networks. Obligate frugivores, especially large-bodied species, were almost entirely absent from small forest patches. Analysis at the species level showed that obligate frugivores formed the core of interacting species, connecting species within a given seed dispersal network. Our combined results revealed that patch size reduction erodes frugivorous bird diversity, thereby affecting the integrity of seed dispersal networks. We highlight the importance of conserving large forest patches to maintain tropical forest functionality.

show abstract

“…Additionally, possible facilitative neighborhood effects can cause rare species to be represented disproportionately in the seed rain to its abundance. In Puerto Rico, seed rain produced by generalist frugivores into pastures was more even across plant species than what was predicted by the abundance of plant species, which potentially maintains plant diversity and gives rise to frugivore based "rare species advantage" (Carlo and Morales, 2016). To add to this complexity, diverse frugivore characteristics such as, a range of foraging behaviors or morphologies, may influence seed dispersion (Jordano et al, 2007) causing the outcome of these neighborhood effects to depend on the characteristics of the frugivore that tracks the resource.…”

Section: Neighborhood Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mutualistic interactions between species are crucial for the maintenance and functioning of the community. Current research has shown the importance of not only understanding the structure of these mutualistic interaction networks but also their temporal dynamics. Temporal changes in species abundance, such as those caused by vertebrate resource tracking, may create temporal variability in a network though neighborhood effects and influence the directedness of dispersal. While much research has been done on resource tracking, neighborhood effects, and directed dispersal individually, little research has been done into their interrelationships and, therefore, theory of how resource tracking can influence frugivory and seed dispersal networks remains poorly developed. We use the available literature to show the prevalence of resource tracking by vertebrate frugivores and hypothesize how, through neighborhood effects, resource tracking may influence short-term variation in network properties. We then discuss how resource tracking can influence long-term network properties by altering the dispersal of plant species. Lastly, we use this information to hypothesize how the introductions of new species into a community may alter the influence of resource tracking on frugivory and seed dispersal. While trait matching and links that are not possible between species in a community (i.e., forbidden links) play a large role in determining the structure of a network, temporal change in the abundance of species due to resource tracking may also affect the properties of networks. By increasing our understanding of the role resource tracking has in the temporal variability of frugivory and seed dispersal networks, we can better determine the full extent of species interactions and provide valuable information for the conservation of ecological communities.

show abstract

Generalist birds promote tropical forest regeneration and increase plant diversity via rare‐biased seed dispersal

Cited by 171 publications

References 54 publications

The distribution of plants and seed dispersers in response to habitat fragmentation in an artificial island archipelago

The distribution of plants and seed dispersers in response to habitat fragmentation in an artificial island archipelago

Local extinctions of obligate frugivores and patch size reduction disrupt the structure of seed dispersal networks

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About