The turnover of plant-frugivore interactions along plant range expansion: consequences for natural colonization processes.

ABSTRACT: Plant-animal mutualisms such as seed dispersal are key interactions for sustaining plant range shifts. It remains elusive whether the organization of interactions with seed dispersers is reconfigured along the expansion landscape template and, if so, whether its effects accelerate or slow colonization. Here we analyse plant-frugivore interactions in a scenario of rapid population expansion of a Mediterranean juniper. We combined network analyses with field surveys, sampling interactions between individual plants and frugivores by DNA-barcoding and phototrapping over two seasons. We assess the role of intrinsic and extrinsic intraspecific variability in shaping interactions and we estimate the individual plant contributions to the seed rain. The whole interaction network was highly structur

SUBMITTER: Isla J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10206477 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature