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Common seed dispersers contribute most to the persistence of a fleshy-fruited tree.

ABSTRACT: Mutualistic interactions are by definition beneficial for each contributing partner. However, it is insufficiently understood how mutualistic interactions influence partners throughout their lives. Here, we used animal species-explicit, microhabitat-structured integral projection models to quantify the effect of seed dispersal by 20 animal species on the full life cycle of the tree Frangula alnus in Białowieża Forest, Eastern Poland. Our analysis showed that animal seed dispersal increased population growth by 2.5%. The effectiveness of animals as seed dispersers was strongly related to the interaction frequency but not the quality of seed dispersal. Consequently, the projected population decline due to simulated species extinction was driven by the loss of common rather than rare mutualist species. Our results support the notion that frequently interacting mutualists contribute most to the persistence of the populations of their partners, underscoring the role of common species for ecosystem functioning and nature conservation.

SUBMITTER: Rehling F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10043030 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Common seed dispersers contribute most to the persistence of a fleshy-fruited tree.

Rehling Finn F Jongejans Eelke E Schlautmann Jan J Albrecht Jörg J Fassbender Hubert H Jaroszewicz Bogdan B Matthies Diethart D Waldschmidt Lina L Farwig Nina N Schabo Dana G DG

Communications biology 20230327 1

Mutualistic interactions are by definition beneficial for each contributing partner. However, it is insufficiently understood how mutualistic interactions influence partners throughout their lives. Here, we used animal species-explicit, microhabitat-structured integral projection models to quantify the effect of seed dispersal by 20 animal species on the full life cycle of the tree Frangula alnus in Białowieża Forest, Eastern Poland. Our analysis showed that animal seed dispersal increased popul ...[more]

PMID: 36973362

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Project description:Background and aimsFruit traits and their inter-relationships can affect foraging choices by frugivores, and hence the probability of mutualistic interactions. Certain combinations of fruit traits that determine the interaction with specific seed dispersers are known as dispersal syndromes. The dispersal syndrome hypothesis (DSH) states that seed dispersers influence the combination of fruit traits found in fruits. Therefore, fruit traits can predict the type of dispersers with which plant species interact. Here, we analysed whether relationships of fruit traits can be explained by the DSH. To do so, we estimated the inter-relationships between morphological, chemical and display groups of fruit traits. In addition, we tested the importance of each trait group defining seed dispersal syndromes.MethodsUsing phylogenetically corrected fruit trait data and fruit-seed disperser networks, we tested the relationships among morphological, chemical and display fruit traits with Pearson's correlations and phenotypic integration indices. Then, we used perMANOVA to test if the fruit traits involved in the analysis supported the functional types of seed dispersers.Key resultsMorphological traits showed strong intragroup relationships, in contrast to chemical and display traits whose intragroup trait relationships were weak or null. Accordingly, only the morphological group of traits supported three broad seed disperser functional types (birds, terrestrial mammals and bats), consistent with the DSH.ConclusionsAltogether, our results give some support to the DSH. Here, the three groups of traits interacted in different ways with seed disperser biology. Broad functional types of seed dispersers would adjust fruit consumption to anatomical limitations imposed by fruit morphology. Once this anatomical filter is sovercome, seed dispersers use almost all the range of variation in chemical and display fruit traits. This suggests that the effect of seed dispersers on fruit traits is modulated by hierarchical decisions. First, morphological constraints define which interactions can actually occur; subsequently, display and composition determine fruit preferences.

Project description:Background and aimsThe angiosperm family Myrtaceae comprises 17 tribes with more than half of the estimated 5500 species being referred to the fleshy-fruited and predominantly rainforest associated Syzygieae and Myrteae. Previous studies suggest that fleshy fruits have evolved separately in these lineages, whereas generally shifts in fruit morphology have been variously implicated in diversification rate shifts among angiosperms. A phylogenetic hypothesis and estimate divergence times for Myrtaceae is developed as a basis to explore the evidence for, and drivers of, elevated diversification rates among the fleshy-fruited tribes of Myrtaceae.MethodsBayesian phylogenetic analyses of plastid and nuclear DNA sequences were used to estimate intertribal relationships and lineage divergence times in Myrtaceae. Focusing on the fleshy-fruited tribes, a variety of statistical approaches were used to assess diversification rates and diversification rate shifts across the family.Key resultsAnalyses of the sequence data provide a strongly supported phylogenetic hypothesis for Myrtaceae. Relative to previous studies, substantially younger ages for many of the clades are reported, and it is argued that the use of flexible calibrations to incorporate fossil data provides more realistic divergence estimates than the use of errorless point calibrations. It is found that Syzygieae and Myrteae have experienced elevated diversification rates relative to other lineages of Myrtaceae. Positive shifts in diversification rate have occurred separately in each lineage, associated with a shift from dry to fleshy fruit.ConclusionsFleshy fruits have evolved independently in Syzygieae and Myrteae, and this is accompanied by exceptional diversification rate shifts in both instances, suggesting that the evolution of fleshy fruits is a key innovation for rainforest Myrtaceae. Noting the scale dependency of this hypothesis, more complex explanations may be required to explain diversification rate shifts occurring within the fleshy-fruited tribes, and the suggested phylogenetic hypothesis provides an appropriate framework for this undertaking.

Dataset Information

Common seed dispersers contribute most to the persistence of a fleshy-fruited tree.

Publications

Common seed dispersers contribute most to the persistence of a fleshy-fruited tree.

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