Exotic birds increase generalization and compensate for native bird decline in plant-frugivore assemblages
- PMID: 24749667
- DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12237
Exotic birds increase generalization and compensate for native bird decline in plant-frugivore assemblages
Abstract
Exotic species are thought to alter the structure of natural communities and disrupt ecosystem functioning through invasion. Nevertheless, exotic species may also provide ecological insurance when they contribute to maintain ecosystem functions after the decline of native species following anthropogenic disturbance. Here, this hypothesis is tested with the assemblage of frugivorous birds and fleshy-fruited plants of New Zealand, which has suffered strong historical declines in native birds while simultaneously gaining new frugivores introduced by European settlers. We studied the plant-frugivore assemblage from measures of fruit and bird abundances and fruit consumption in nine forest patches, and tested how this changed across a gradient of relative abundance of exotic birds. We then examined how each bird species' role in the assemblage (the proportion of fruits and the number of plant species consumed) varied with their relative abundance, body size and native/exotic status. The more abundant and, to a lesser extent, larger birds species consumed a higher proportion of fruits from more plant species. Exotic birds consumed fruits less selectively and more proportionate to the local availability than did native species. Interaction networks in which exotic birds had a stronger role as frugivores had higher generalization, higher nestedness and higher redundancy of plants. Exotic birds maintained frugivory when native birds became rarer, and diversified the local spectrum of frugivores for co-occurring native plants. These effects seemed related to the fact that species abundances, rather than trait-matching constraints, ultimately determined the patterns of interactions between birds and plants. By altering the structure of plant-frugivore assemblages, exotic birds likely enhance the stability of the community-wide seed dispersal in the face of continued anthropogenic impact.
Keywords: New Zealand; Turdus merula; abundance; ecological insurance; frugivory; mutualistic networks; plant–animal interactions; redundancy; seed dispersal.
© 2014 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.
Similar articles
-
Frugivore species maintain their structural role in the trophic and spatial networks of seed dispersal interactions.J Anim Ecol. 2020 Sep;89(9):2168-2180. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13281. Epub 2020 Jul 12. J Anim Ecol. 2020. PMID: 32568426
-
Constant properties of plant-frugivore networks despite fluctuations in fruit and bird communities in space and time.Ecology. 2013 Jun;94(6):1296-306. doi: 10.1890/12-1213.1. Ecology. 2013. PMID: 23923493
-
Seed dispersal as an ecosystem service: frugivore loss leads to decline of a socially valued plant, Capsicum frutescens.Ecol Appl. 2018 Apr;28(3):655-667. doi: 10.1002/eap.1667. Epub 2018 Feb 27. Ecol Appl. 2018. PMID: 29271019 Free PMC article.
-
The mutualism-antagonism continuum in Neotropical palm-frugivore interactions: from interaction outcomes to ecosystem dynamics.Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2022 Apr;97(2):527-553. doi: 10.1111/brv.12809. Epub 2021 Nov 1. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2022. PMID: 34725900 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Evolution of angiosperm seed disperser mutualisms: the timing of origins and their consequences for coevolutionary interactions between angiosperms and frugivores.Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2016 Feb;91(1):168-86. doi: 10.1111/brv.12164. Epub 2014 Dec 20. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2016. PMID: 25530412 Review.
Cited by
-
Strong among population variation in frugivory strength by functional diverse frugivores: a 'reciprocal translocation' experiment.Oecologia. 2018 May;187(1):143-154. doi: 10.1007/s00442-018-4102-x. Epub 2018 Mar 2. Oecologia. 2018. PMID: 29497835
-
Defaunation effects on plant recruitment depend on size matching and size trade-offs in seed-dispersal networks.Proc Biol Sci. 2017 May 31;284(1855):20162664. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2664. Proc Biol Sci. 2017. PMID: 28566481 Free PMC article.
-
Fruit traits and temporal abundance shape plant-frugivore interaction networks in a seasonal tropical forest.Naturwissenschaften. 2018 Apr 2;105(3-4):29. doi: 10.1007/s00114-018-1556-y. Naturwissenschaften. 2018. PMID: 29610984
-
Predicting direct and indirect non-target impacts of biocontrol agents using machine-learning approaches.PLoS One. 2021 Jun 1;16(6):e0252448. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252448. eCollection 2021. PLoS One. 2021. PMID: 34061885 Free PMC article.
-
The frugivory network properties of a simplified ecosystem: Birds and plants in a Neotropical periurban park.Ecol Evol. 2020 Aug 4;10(16):8579-8591. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6481. eCollection 2020 Aug. Ecol Evol. 2020. PMID: 32884642 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources