Epizoochory in Parrots as an Overlooked Yet Widespread Plant-Animal Mutualism.

ABSTRACT: Plant-animal interactions are key to sustaining whole communities and ecosystem function. However, their complexity may limit our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the species involved. The ecological effects of epizoochory remain little known compared to other seed dispersal mechanisms given the few vectors identified. In addition, epizoochory is mostly considered non-mutualistic since dispersers do not obtain nutritional rewards. Here, we show a widespread but unknown mutualistic interaction between parrots and plants through epizoochory. Combining our observations with photos from web-sources, we recorded nearly 2000 epizoochory events in 48 countries across five continents, involving 116 parrot species and nearly 100 plant species from 35 families, including both native an

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Brito D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8070029 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature