Generalist Species Have a Central Role In a Highly Diverse Plant–Frugivore Network

Palacio, Rubén Darío; Valderrama-Ardila, Carlos; Kattan, Gustavo H.

doi:10.1111/btp.12290

Cited by 74 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…, Palacio et al . ). In this sense, the fact that only one (species strength) of the five metrics considered showed significant correlation between plant‐ and animal‐centered approaches could be concerning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of the endemic and critically endangered Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis in plant‐hummingbird networks of the Colombian Andes

et al. 2017

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Ecological network approaches may contribute to conservation practices by quantifying within‐community importance of species. In mutualistic plant‐pollinator systems, such networks reflect potential pollination of the plants and a considerable portion of the energy consumption by the pollinators, two key components for each party. Here, we used two different sampling approaches to describe mutualistic plant‐hummingbird networks from a cloud forest in the Colombian Western Andes, home to the Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis, an endemic and critically endangered hummingbird. We contrast networks between two localities (a protected area inside a National park vs. its buffer zone) and across sampling methods (floral visitation vs. pollen loads) to assess how the network structure and the importance of each hummingbird species within the networks may change. Visitation networks were characterized as having higher sampling completeness, yet pollen load network recorded more pollen types than plant species recorded by visitation. Irrespective of the sampling methods, the Colorful Puffleg was one of the most important hummingbird species in the network within the protected area inside the National park, but not in the buffer zone. Moreover, most species‐level network indices were related to hummingbirds’ abundance. This suggests that conservation initiatives aimed at the endangered Colorful Puffleg may both help on the survival of this endangered hummingbird, as well as on maintaining its key role in the mutualistic interaction network inside the National Park. Our study illustrates how conservation practitioners could assess the local importance of endangered species using interaction network approaches.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The role of the endemic and critically endangered Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis in plant‐hummingbird networks of the Colombian Andes

et al. 2017

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“…However, we found that while disperser diversity is always intrinsically important for seed dispersal function, it became increasingly important when frugivore abundance declined. Together, these results suggest that while a few disturbance‐tolerant generalist dispersers can, to some extent, maintain the seed dispersal service for most fleshy‐fruited species (see Palacio, Valderrama‐Ardila & Kattan ), such compensation is no longer effective when defaunation simultaneously reduces the richness of the vertebrate community and their overall abundance. Additionally, we show that the extinction order of disperser species can have a critical effect on the degradation rate of community‐level dispersal services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the consequences of disperser extinction: richness matters the most when abundance is low

et al. 2017

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Summary The ongoing biodiversity crisis entails the concomitant loss of species and the ecological services they provide. Global defaunation, and particularly the loss of frugivores, may negatively affect the seed dispersal of fleshy‐fruited plant species, with predictable stronger impacts in simplified communities such as those on oceanic islands. However, logistical difficulties have hindered the experimental and theoretical need to disentangle the roles of species identity, richness (i.e. number of species) and abundance. Consequently, studies to date have focused exclusively on the loss of species richness leaving us largely ignorant regarding how species identity and abundance affect the loss of ecosystem functions. Here, we applied a network approach to disentangle the effects of disperser abundance, richness and identity on the seed dispersal service provided by frugivores to the Galapagos plant community. We found that both abundance and richness of the dispersers significantly affect the function of seed dispersal and that richness becomes increasingly important as disperser abundance declines. Extinction simulations revealed that the order of species loss has profound implications to the plant community. On the one hand, abundant generalist dispersers like the Galapagos lizards, can mitigate the loss of specialized dispersers. On the other hand, specific threats affecting key dispersers can lead to the rapid collapse of the community‐level dispersal services. Our results suggest that the identity of the disperser species lost can have a large effect on the number of plant species dispersed, and generalist species are essential to the persistence of the community dispersal service. Both abundance and species richness of seed dispersers are key and synergistic drivers of the number of plant species dispersed. Consequently, the coupled negative effect of population declines and species extinctions in frugivore assemblages may lead to an accelerated loss of the seed dispersal function. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12897/suppinfo is available for this article.

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“…While specialized frugivores are known to play a key role in plant‐disperser networks (Mello et al, ; Sebastián‐González, ), the role of large frugivores in dispersal in wider plant‐dispersal networks is still debated (Palacio, Valderrama‐Ardila, & Kattan, ; Sebastián‐González, ). The observed network was significantly less nested than null networks, contrary to the general trend (García, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large frugivores matter: Insights from network and seed dispersal effectiveness approaches

Naniwadekar

Chaplod

Rathore

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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While large avian frugivores are known to be key dispersers for large‐seeded tree species, their role in community‐wide plant‐disperser networks is still poorly known. Large avian frugivores are also among the most threatened due to anthropogenic impacts. We evaluated the role of large avian frugivores in a plant‐disperser community by (a) determining whether the plant‐disperser community was modular, with a distinct community of large frugivores (thereby highlighting their importance), (b) determining relative qualitative and quantitative roles played by large‐bodied frugivores vis‐à‐vis other frugivores and (c) determining impacts of large‐bodied frugivore loss on the plant‐disperser community. The study was carried out at a tropical forest site in north‐east India, which is part of the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot. We collected tree watch data (20:55 hr) from 46 tree species, which represented 85% of tree species that are predominantly bird‐dispersed in the area. We found that the plant‐disperser community was modular, with a distinct module of large‐seeded tree species and large frugivores. Intermediate‐sized frugivores such as barbets and bulbuls were the most connected, while large‐sized frugivores, such as hornbills and imperial pigeons, were moderately well connected. Qualitative and quantitative roles played by different dispersers varied across the gradient of frugivore body size. Hornbills, the largest avian frugivores, consumed a significantly greater number of fruits and swallowed larger proportions of fruits compared with other avian groups. In comparison with similar‐sized frugivores, imperial pigeons fed on larger‐sized fruits, highlighting their importance for dispersal of large‐seeded plants. Under simulated extinction scenarios, larger extinction cascades were not necessarily caused by larger frugivores; however, extinctions of certain large‐bodied frugivores (hornbills, imperial pigeons) caused extinction cascades. Integrating information from networks and seed dispersal effectiveness approaches enabled a better understanding of large frugivore role in a plant‐disperser community. While large‐bodied frugivores may not be playing a central role in plant‐disperser communities, they are crucial as seed dispersal service providers for large‐seeded plants. In conjunction with the reported local extinctions of large frugivores like hornbills from the south Asian region, this study’s findings highlight the irreplaceable quantitative and qualitative impacts that tropical plant communities are likely to experience in the future.

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Generalist Species Have a Central Role In a Highly Diverse Plant–Frugivore Network

Cited by 74 publications

References 51 publications

The role of the endemic and critically endangered Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis in plant‐hummingbird networks of the Colombian Andes

The role of the endemic and critically endangered Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis in plant‐hummingbird networks of the Colombian Andes

Predicting the consequences of disperser extinction: richness matters the most when abundance is low

Large frugivores matter: Insights from network and seed dispersal effectiveness approaches

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