Urbanization homogenizes the interactions of plant-frugivore bird networks

Schneiberg, Israel; Bôscolo, Danilo; Devoto, Mariano; Marcilio-Silva, Vinícius; Dalmaso, Cilmar Antônio; Ribeiro, John Wesley; Ribeiro, Milton Cézar; Guaraldo, André de Camargo; Niebuhr, Bernardo Brandão; Varassin, Isabela Galarda

doi:10.1007/s11252-020-00927-1

Cited by 46 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…None of these studies, however, took place in urban or periurban settings, of which we found very few previously published works. Research done in plant-hummingbird pollination networks in urban and periurban settings showed lower modularity and nestedness values, denoting unstructured networks (Maruyama et al, 2019;Schneiberg et al, 2020). Our specialization value, however, was high compared to these works, possibly because of the habitat heterogeneity of our study site and influence from adjacent habitats, since we found birds that aren't frequent in urban parks.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

“…One related factor with known effects in fruit consumption by birds is their morphologic matching: altered environments generally do not have fruits of large sizes and those present therein have a lower dispersal probability because their largesized frugivores are more likely to be absent in these habitats (Galetti et al, 2013;Emer et al, 2018). Urban environments tend to have a low number of species and interactions, resulting in simplified plant-bird frugivory and pollination networks dominated by generalists (Maruyama et al, 2019;Salazar-Rivera et al, 2020;Schneiberg et al, 2020). Conversely, forest cover and connectivity are key in the maintenance of interaction diversity in seed dispersal networks (Monteiro et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In a Neotropical Periurban Park, Fruit Consumption by Birds Seems to Be a Random Process

2021

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Frugivory interactions between birds and fruit-bearing plants are shaped by the abundance of its interacting species, their temporal overlap, the matching of their morphologies, as well as fruit and seed characteristics. Our study evaluates the role of seven factors of fruits and plants in determining the frequency of whole-fruit consumption by birds. We studied the frugivory network of a Neotropical periurban park in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and quantified relative abundance and phenology of birds and fruit, as well as fruit morphology, chromatic and achromatic contrast, and nutritional content. Using a maximum likelihood approach, we compared the observed interaction network with 62 single- and multiple-variable probabilistic models. Our network is composed of 11 plants and 17 birds involved in 81 frugivory interactions. This network is nested, modular, and relatively specialized. However, the frequency of pairwise interactions is not explained by the variables examined in our probabilistic models and found the null model has the best performance. This indicates that no single predictor or combination of them is better at explaining the observed frequency of pairwise interactions than the null model. The subsequent four top-ranking models, with ΔAIC values < 100, are single-variable ones: carbohydrate content, lipid content, chromatic contrast, and morphology. Two- and three-variable models show the poorest fit to observed data. The lack of a deterministic pattern does not support any of our predictions nor neutral- or niche-based processes shaping the observed pattern of fruit consumption in our interaction network. It may also mean that fruit consumption by birds in this periurban park is a random process. Although our study failed to find a pattern, our work exemplifies how investigations done in urban settings, poor in species and interactions, can help us understand the role of disturbance in the organization of frugivory networks and the processes governing their structure.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In a Neotropical Periurban Park, Fruit Consumption by Birds Seems to Be a Random Process

2021

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“…The process of urbanization leads to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation — all of which can combine to negatively impact biodiversity (McKinney 2002; La Sorte, Lepczyk, Aronson, et al, 2018; McKinney & Lockwood, 1999; Piano et al, 2020; Schneiberg et al, 2020). Globally, urban areas are expected to expand by 1.2–1.8 million km 2 between 2000 and 2030 (Güneralp & Seto, 2013; Seto et al, 2012), making such urban expansion a major threat to biodiversity (Czech et al, 2000; Parnell et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban tolerance of birds changes throughout the full annual cycle

Callaghan

Cornwell

Poore

et al. 2021

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim: As urban areas continue to expand, it is increasingly important to quantify species-specific responses to urban environments, and how these change across the full annual cycle. Our objective was to quantify urban tolerance for North American birds across the time. We tested (a) whether intra-annual variability of urban tolerance differed between migrants and residents and (b) whether intra-annual variability of urban tolerance was phylogenetically conserved. We then assessed how the relationship between ecological and life history traits and urban tolerance differed both across the year and between migrants and residents.Location: North America.Taxon: Birds. Methods:We integrated a large citizen science dataset of observations for 237 bird species, remotely sensed VIIRS night-time lights data, and trait data on each species.We estimate, for each species and each month of the year, a continuous measure of urban tolerance (i.e. the median of their distribution of observations across an urbanization gradient). We then use phylogenetic linear models to assess the relationship between this measure of urban tolerance and various life history and ecological traits.Results: There was a distinct drop in the overall urban tolerance scores corresponding with the breeding period; this pattern was more pronounced for migrants compared to residents. Migrants also had greater intra-annual variability than resident species.We also found that the strength of the relationships between ecological and life history traits and urban tolerance was highly seasonal for most traits considered, and some divergent patterns were noted between migrants and residents. Main conclusions:The urban tolerance of birds greatly changed throughout the annual cycle, with different patterns for migrants and residents. Compared to residents, migrants showed more intra-annual variability of urban tolerance with a drop in the average urban tolerance score during the breeding season. Together, our results suggest that urban tolerance is a function of both species and season, and they highlight the importance of considering the dynamic nature of birds' use of urban ecosystems throughout the full annual cycle.

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“…A fruiting species can be consumed by a variety of potential bird dispersers, and a potential bird disperser can remove a variety of fruit species ( Dugger et al., 2018 ; Schneiberg et al, 2020 ). In our study, seven out of 11 local frugivorous birds consumed fruits from both plant species, suggesting that a stable relationship between the alien plant and local birds had already been established.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Similar seed dispersal systems by local frugivorous birds in native and alien plant species in a coastal seawall forest

Liu

Wang

YuTing

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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Frugivorous birds play an important role in seed dispersal. Alien plant species’ seeds are dispersed by local birds in order to establish populations in new habitats. Alien plant species that produce fruits similar to that of native species have the potential to attract local birds, creating new mutualistic systems that are similar to the local ones. In autumn 2018 and 2019, we studied the seed dispersal systems of an alien plant species, Phytolacca americana, and a native species, Cayratia japonica, in a coastal seawall forest. Both plant species’ fruit, frugivorous bird foraging behaviors, seed germination rates, and seedling microhabitats were examined to determine whether the alien species had a similar seed dispersal system to that of the native species. Our results showed that P. americana and C. japonica had similar fruit type, color, and ripening period. There was a positive correlation between the percentage rate of fruit ripening and the percentage rate of fruit missing for both plant species, indicating that local frugivorous birds have the potential to sufficiently disperse the alien seeds to enable its spread in the coastal seawall forest (simple linear regression, P. americana: β = 0.863 ± 0.017, R2adj = 0.978, P < 0.01; C. japonica: β = 0.787 ± 0.034, R2adj = 0.898, P < 0.01). Eleven bird species consumed the fruits of the alien species or native species during the study period. Similar results were shown across alien and native species in bird foraging behavior (feeding frequency, feeding duration and first stop distance) indicating that a similar seed dispersal relationship had been established between local frugivorous and both plant species. The alien plant had a higher number of fruits carried by birds, suggesting that P. americana had a slightly higher fruit consumption than that of C. japonica (t-test, P < 0.01). Alien plant seedlings grow more abundant in forest gap microhabitat (t-test, P < 0.01). Our results confirmed that bird digestion promotes seed germination success in both plant species. Our study suggests that in a narrow coastal seawall forest, alien plant species can successfully establish their populations by relying on similar seed dispersal systems as the local species.

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Urbanization homogenizes the interactions of plant-frugivore bird networks

Cited by 46 publications

References 92 publications

In a Neotropical Periurban Park, Fruit Consumption by Birds Seems to Be a Random Process

In a Neotropical Periurban Park, Fruit Consumption by Birds Seems to Be a Random Process

Urban tolerance of birds changes throughout the full annual cycle

Similar seed dispersal systems by local frugivorous birds in native and alien plant species in a coastal seawall forest

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