Cascading Effects of Overhunting on the Functional Tree Composition of Amazonian Forests.

ABSTRACT: The depletion of tropical frugivorous vertebrates due to overhunting may impair natural forest regeneration. Yet our understanding of how the loss of seed dispersers and browsers along hunting pressure gradients can shift plant community composition and, consequently, trait distributions, is still limited. We assessed the cascading effects of hunting pressure on forest composition by examining species-level responses and how these are translated into potential shifts in community traits at different life stages. We sampled 4784 trees and 6132 saplings across 30 forest plots along a gradient of hunting pressure in western Brazilian Amazonia, and compiled plant species data on dispersal mode, seed size, wood density, and leaf mass per area (LMA). We tested how hunting pressure affects saplin

SUBMITTER: Scabin AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12710441 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature