TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant-animal mutualism effectiveness in native and transformed habitats
T2 - Assessing the coupled outcomes of pollination and seed dispersal
AU - Fontúrbel, Francisco E.
AU - Jordano, Pedro
AU - Medel, Rodrigo
N1 - Funding Information:
C. Valenzuela, C. Dünner, A. Candia, J. Malebrán, and D. Salazar assisted in field. We are grateful to The Nature Conservancy and the Valdivian Coastal Reserve for granting access permissions and provide lodging facilities in field. Comments of A. Valido and four anonymous reviewers improved an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was supported by the American Society of Mammalogists , the Scott Neotropical Fund program of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo & Cleveland Zoological Society , the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, the Rufford Small Grants Foundation (10621-1), Idea Wild, and the Chilean Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT; AT-24121082). Final writing of this article was supported by FONDECYT projects 3140528 and 11160152 (FEF).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier GmbH
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - Most flowering plants depend on biotic pollination and seed dispersal for reproductive success. Pollination and seed dispersal are generalized mutualistic interactions, in which species with different effectiveness levels participate. However, anthropogenic habitat disturbance may hamper the impact of mutualists, jeopardizing plant establishment and recruitment. Important as it is, the effect of habitat transformation on the joint contribution of pollinators and seed dispersers to plant reproduction remains little explored. To assess the effects of habitat transformation on the effectiveness of pollination and seed dispersal processes, we studied a highly specialized system that consists of a hemiparasitic mistletoe, one hummingbird pollinator, and one marsupial seed disperser species that inhabit native and transformed habitats in southern Chile. Pollination and seed dispersal effectiveness landscapes were highly variable and did not differ between habitats. Pollinator visitation and fruit removal were higher at the transformed habitat whereas seed disperser visitation and fruit set were higher at the native habitat, probably due to differences in structure and resource availability between habitats. In consequence, and contrary to our expectations, the coupled outcome of pollination and seed dispersal was higher at the transformed habitat, suggesting that persistence of the tripartite mutualism in the overall system is benefitted from the presence of a native understory vegetation that attracts pollinators and seed dispersers and compensates for the often detrimental effects of habitat transformation.
AB - Most flowering plants depend on biotic pollination and seed dispersal for reproductive success. Pollination and seed dispersal are generalized mutualistic interactions, in which species with different effectiveness levels participate. However, anthropogenic habitat disturbance may hamper the impact of mutualists, jeopardizing plant establishment and recruitment. Important as it is, the effect of habitat transformation on the joint contribution of pollinators and seed dispersers to plant reproduction remains little explored. To assess the effects of habitat transformation on the effectiveness of pollination and seed dispersal processes, we studied a highly specialized system that consists of a hemiparasitic mistletoe, one hummingbird pollinator, and one marsupial seed disperser species that inhabit native and transformed habitats in southern Chile. Pollination and seed dispersal effectiveness landscapes were highly variable and did not differ between habitats. Pollinator visitation and fruit removal were higher at the transformed habitat whereas seed disperser visitation and fruit set were higher at the native habitat, probably due to differences in structure and resource availability between habitats. In consequence, and contrary to our expectations, the coupled outcome of pollination and seed dispersal was higher at the transformed habitat, suggesting that persistence of the tripartite mutualism in the overall system is benefitted from the presence of a native understory vegetation that attracts pollinators and seed dispersers and compensates for the often detrimental effects of habitat transformation.
KW - Dromiciops gliroides
KW - Eucalyptus plantation
KW - Plant recruitment
KW - Sephanoides sephaniodes
KW - South american temperate forest
KW - Tristerix corymbosus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85032013675&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ppees.2017.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.ppees.2017.09.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85032013675
VL - 28
SP - 87
EP - 95
JO - Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics
JF - Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics
SN - 1433-8319
ER -