Plant origin and fruit traits shape fruit removal patterns by native birds in invaded plant communities
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Plant origin and fruit traits shape fruit removal patterns by native birds in invaded plant communities Valeria L. Martin-Albarracin
. Guillermo C. Amico
Received: 2 June 2020 / Accepted: 28 October 2020 Ó Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Biotic interactions and mutualisms in particular have an important role in ecosystem structure and functioning as well as in the maintenance of biodiversity. Understanding how communities respond to the introduction of non-native species and what determines the establishment of novel interactions between native and introduced species will help in determining the potential impacts of biological invasions. The aims of this work were to assess patterns of frugivory and fruit removal in environments with invasion of non-native fleshy-fruited plants and to evaluate whether novel associations between native frugivores and non-native plants are determined by fruit traits. For this we selected eight study sites in areas with different degrees of invasion of non-native fleshy-fruited plants. In each site, we measured fruit availability and fruit traits of native and non-native plants. In addition, we conducted direct frugivory observations. We found that native and non-native fruits differed based on morphological trait variables, such as fruit weight and dimensions. Only two birds, Elaenia albiceps (smaller and migrant) and Turdus
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10530-020-02407-1. V. L. Martin-Albarracin (&) G. C. Amico Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICETUniversidad Nacional del Comahue, Direccio´n Postal: Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Rı´o Negro, Argentina e-mail: [email protected]
falcklandii (bigger and resident), are the main frugivorous present in the area. At the scale of the community of frugivores, neither visit nor fruit removal rates differ between natives and non-natives. However, at the species scale, while E. albiceps preferentially foraged on native plants, T. falcklandii preferred non-natives. Thus, some generalist frugivorous species like T. falcklandii can play a key role in promoting the invasion of non-native plants. Keywords Biological invasions Fruit trait Frugivory Interaction networks Seed dispersal Patagonia Introduction Biotic interactions and mutualisms in particular have an important role in ecosystem structure and functioning as well as in the maintenance of biodiversity (Stachowicz 2001; Bascompte et al. 2006; ValienteBanuet et al. 2015). Mutualistic species interact with each other forming complex interaction networks that support key ecological processes like pollination and seed dispersal (Bascompte and Jordano 2014). A rapid global environmental change is taking place as a consequence of anthropic activity (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2003), and understanding how the main drivers of this global change—habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change, air and water pollut
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