Functional roles of frugivores and plants shape hyper‐diverse mutualistic interactions under two antagonistic conservation scenarios

Lisieux Fuzessy, Gisela Sobral, Daiane Carreira et al 2022. Functional roles of frugivores and plants shape hyper‐diverse mutualistic interactions under two antagonistic conservation scenarios. Biotropica 54: 444–454. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.13065

Publication Details

Published in: Biotropica  Open Access: Yes

Links

DOI Link PDF OpenAlex

BibTeX

@article{RN12416,
   author = {Fuzessy, Lisieux and Sobral, Gisela and Carreira, Daiane and Rother, Débora Cristina and Barbosa, Gedimar and Landis, Mariana and Galetti, Mauro and Dallas, Tad and Cláudio, Vinícius Cardoso and Culot, Laurence and Jordano, Pedro},
   title = {Functional roles of frugivores and plants shape hyper‐diverse mutualistic interactions under two antagonistic conservation scenarios},
   journal = {Biotropica},
   volume = {54},
   number = {2},
   pages = {444–454},
   abstract = {Disentangling the structure of plant–animal mutualisms shed light on how species are organized, and allow us to infer about resilience, specificity, and ultimately the consequences of the loss of functions to the ecosystem. Here we gathered fruit–frugivore interactions for all the major vertebrate taxa interacting with plants in two conservation states in the Brazilian Atlantic forest: a small patch and a continuous forest. Using a network approach, we identified individual roles played by vertebrates and plants, as well as the most relevant functional traits determining the network structure. The most important vertebrates in the continuous forest were the frugivorous characterized by the ability to swallow fruits containing small to large seeds, but they also were the first to be vanished from the small patch decades ago. Animal gape/gullet size, but not body mass, together with the greatest degrees of frugivory contributed to structure the conserved community. In the forest patch, where specialization degrees (in terms of number of interactions performed) were lost, small generalist birds and the only still living primate, along with small lipid‐rich fruits, were central in maintaining community structure. This study brings insights on the potential of conserved forests to hold important species‐rich interactions, at the same time that small patches count on small birds and small fruits with increased energetic rewards to maintain structuring under human degradation threats. Our results reemphasize the importance of preserving large continuous forest remnants to support important mutualistic interactions subjected to functional traits already lost in small degraded patches. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material. Desemaranhar a estrutura de mutualismos entre plantas e animals nos ajuda a entender como as espécies são organizadas e nos permite inferir sobre resiliência, especificidade e, em última instância, as consequências da perda de funções para o ecossistema. Neste estudo reunimos as interações de frugivoria para todos os principais vertebrados interagindo com plantas, considerando dois estados de conservação da Mata Atlântica brasileira: uma pequena mancha e uma floresta contínua. Usando uma abordagem de rede, identificamos os papéis individuais desempenhados por vertebrados e plantas, bem como as características funcionais mais relevantes que determinam a estrutura da rede. Os vertebrados mais importantes na floresta contínua foram os frugívoros, caracterizados pela capacidade de engolir frutos contendo sementes pequenas a grandes, mas também foram os primeiros a desaparecer da pequena mancha há décadas. O tamanho da garganta do animal, mas não a massa corporal, juntamente com os maiores graus de frugivoria contribuíram para estruturar a comunidade conservada. No fragmento florestal, onde os graus de especialização (em termos de número de interações realizadas) foram perdidos, pequenos pássaros generalistas e o único primata ainda vivo, junto com pequenos frutos ricos em lipídios, foram centrais na manutenção da estrutura da comunidade. Este estudo traz insights sobre o potencial das florestas conservadas para manter importantes interações ricas em espécies, ao mesmo tempo que pequenas manchas contam com pequenos pássaros e pequenos frutos com recompensas energéticas para manter sua estrutura sob ameaças de degradação humana. Nossos resultados enfatizam a importância de preservar grandes remanescentes florestais contínuos para apoiar importantes interações mutualísticas sujeitas a características funcionais já perdidas em pequenos fragmentos degradados. We identified individual roles played by vertebrates and plants, as well as the most relevant functional traits determining network structure. The most important vertebrates in the continuous forest were frugivorous able to swallow fruits containing small to large seeds, but they also were the first to disappear from the small patch decades ago. Gape/gullet size, and the greatest degrees of frugivory contributed to structure the conserved community. In the forest patch, small generalist birds and the only still living primate, along with small lipid‐rich fruits, were central in maintaining community structure.},
   ISSN = {0006-3606},
   DOI = {10.1111/btp.13065},
   year = {2022},
   type = {Journal Article}
}