Plant-frugivore network simplification under habitat fragmentation leaves a small core of interacting generalists
- Li, Wande
- Zhu, Chen
- Grass, Ingo
- Vazquez, Diego P.
- Wang, Duorun
- Zhao, Yuhao
- Zeng, Di
- Kang, Yi
- Ding, Ping
- Si, Xingfeng
DOIAbstract
Habitat fragmentation impacts seed dispersal processes that are important in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, it is still unclear how habitat fragmentation affects frugivorous interactions due to the lack of high-quality data on plant-frugivore networks. Here we recorded 10,117 plant-frugivore interactions from 22 reservoir islands and six nearby mainland sites using the technology of arboreal camera trapping to assess the effects of island area and isolation on the diversity, structure, and stability of plant-frugivore networks. We found that network simplification under habitat fragmentation reduces the number of interactions involving specialized species and large-bodied frugivores. Small islands had more conn...
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