Multiscale variability in nutrients and secondary metabolites in a bat-dispersed neotropical fruit.

ABSTRACT: Ripe fleshy fruits contain not only nutrients but also a diverse array of secondary metabolites. Nutrients serve as a reward for mutualists, whereas defensive metabolites protect the fruit against pests and predators. The composition of these chemical traits is highly variable, both across different plants and even within repeating structures on the same individual plant. This intraspecific and intraindividual variation has important fitness consequences for both plants and animals, yet patterns of variation and covariation in nutrients and secondary metabolites are not well understood, especially at smaller scales. Here, we investigate the multiscale variation and covariation between nutrients and defensive metabolites in Piper sancti-felicis ripe fruits. Means and measures of vari

SUBMITTER: Gelambi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10474796 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature