Hyperdominance in fruit production in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest: the functional role of plants in sustaining frugivores

Author(s)

Staggemeier, Vanessa G. ; Cazetta, Eliana ; Cerdeira Morellato, Leonor Patricia

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Biotropica; v. 49, n. 1, p. 71-82, JAN 2017.
• Web of Science Citations: 11

Abstract

The availability of fruits is critical for tropical forests, where the majority of plant species rely upon animal vectors for seed dispersal. However, we do not know how fruit production is temporally distributed over species and families. Two plant families are particularly important in floristic inventories of Atlantic rain forests: Arecaceae, a few species of which are highly abundant; and Myrtaceae, which is abundant and displays outstanding species diversity. In this context, we asked whether hyperdominance occurs in fruit production in the Atlantic rain forest, and whether it occurs in the abundant species of Arecaceae and Myrtaceae. We investigated whether the temporal fruit production patterns differ between Myrtaceae, Arecaceae, and the plant community as a whole. We also applied a functional dispersion index to assess the temporal fruit diversity over a 2-yr period, with regard to morphological and phenological traits. We found that the phenomenon of hyperdominance occurs in fruit production: five species accounted for more than half of the pulp biomass. Arecaceae fruit biomass peaked at the end of wet season, overlapping with the community peak; whereas Myrtaceae species fruited throughout the year and were an important resource during periods of food scarcity. Myrtaceae filled more of the fruit morphospace over time because their fruits exhibit a large range of morphologies and phenological strategies. Our results demonstrated the importance of combining phenology and fruit morphology in the evaluation of resource availability, which revealed periods of high fruit diversity that could support a range of frugivore sizes and maintain overall ecosystem functionality. Resumo A disponibilidade de frutos e critica para as florestas tropicais onde a maioria das plantas depende dos animais como vetores para a dispersAo de suas sementes. Porem, nos nAo sabemos como a producAo de frutos esta temporalmente distribuida nas especies e familias. Duas familias de plantas sAo particularmente importantes nos levantamentos floristicos da floresta Atlantica: Arecaceae devido a alta abundancia de poucas especies e Myrtaceae devido a elevada abundancia e grande diversidade de especies. Neste contexto, nos perguntamos se existe hiperdominancia na producAo de frutos em Floresta Atlantica e se ela ocorre nas especies abundantes de Myrtaceae e Arecaceae. Nos investigamos se os padroes temporais de producAo de frutos diferem entre Myrtaceae, Arecaceae e o restante da comunidade de plantas. Nos tambem aplicamos um indice de dispersAo funcional, que combina caracteristicas morfologicas dos frutos e fenologia da frutificacAo, para avaliar a diversidade temporal de frutos produzida ao longo de um periodo de dois anos. Nos encontramos que o fenomeno de hiperdominancia ocorre na producAo de frutos: cinco especies foram responsaveis por mais da metade da biomassa de polpa produzida. O pico da biomassa de frutos de Arecaceae ocorreu no final da estacAo umida, sobrepondo com o pico da comunidade; ao passo que Myrtaceae frutificou durante ano todo e foi um importante recurso nos periodos de escassez de alimento. Myrtaceae preencheu mais o morfo-espaco dos frutos ao longo do tempo, porque seus frutos exibem uma maior variacAo morfologica e diversas estrategias fenologicas. Nossos resultados demonstraram a importancia de combinar caracteres fenologicos e morfologicos dos frutos na avaliacAo da disponibilidade de recursos. Essa abordagem permite identificar periodos de alta diversidade funcional de frutos que poderiam sustentar frugivoros de diversos tamanhos e manter a funcionalidade global do ecossistema. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/13899-4 - Phenology and phylogenies as tools to understand the effects of climate changes in the tropics
• Grantee: Vanessa Graziele Staggemeier
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 05/52726-9 - Morphological and chemical variation of fruits in the choice of frugivorous animals from the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants