Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment
- Autores
- Pérez Méndez, Néstor; Jordano, Pedro; Alfredo, Valido
- Año de publicación
- 2014
- Idioma
- inglés
- Tipo de recurso
- artículo
- Estado
- versión publicada
- Descripción
- Fil: Jordano, Pedro. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.
Fil: Valido, Alfredo. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.
Fil: Pérez Méndez, Néstor. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.
Extinction-driven, body-size reduction of seed dispersers (i.e. an ecological downsizing resulting from severe defaunation) can entail the loss of unique ecological functions, and impair plant regeneration. However, the manner in which the downsizing of mutualistic animals affects seed dispersal and plant recruitment remains understudied. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment in the Canarian archipelago to document the consequences of lizards body-size reduction (Gallotia, Lacertidae) on the recruitment of Neochamaelea pulverulenta (Rutaceae), which relies exclusively on these frugivores for seed dispersal. Subsequent to the arrival of humans (ca. 2000–2500 yr BP), the extinction of large-bodied lizards generated a gradient of increasing defaunation on the three islands inhabited by this plant. We hypothesized a significant reduction, and eventually collapse, of early seedling recruitment mirroring the defaunation intensity of the frugivores. We sampled 42 populations spanning the whole geographic range of the plant to examine the quantitative (age structure pattern) and qualitative components (proportion of seedlings growing outside the canopy, number of seedlings established outside the canopy relative to the number of adults – effective recruitment rate, and seedling vigour) of plant regeneration. Our results show that the age structure patterns did not differ among the three contrasted insular scenarios. However, we found significant reductions in seedling recruitment outside the canopy, effective recruitment rate, and delayed negative effects on seedling vigour in populations hosting small- to medium-sized lizard species. Thus, extirpation of large seed-dispersers did not cause substantial reductions in quantitative components of seed dispersal, but determined declines in qualitative aspects impairing dispersal effectiveness. Our study highlights the importance of examining all components of the dispersal and recruitment process to properly document the regeneration outcomes of plants in defaunated, downsized ecological scenarios - Materia
-
Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra
Canary Islands
Defaunation
Gallotia
Lizard Extinction
Neochamaelea Pulverulenta
Seed Dispersal
Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra - Nivel de accesibilidad
- acceso abierto
- Condiciones de uso
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Repositorio
- Institución
- Universidad Nacional de Río Negro
- OAI Identificador
- oai:rid.unrn.edu.ar:20.500.12049/559
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Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitmentPérez Méndez, NéstorJordano, PedroAlfredo, ValidoCiencias Ambientales y de la TierraCanary IslandsDefaunationGallotiaLizard ExtinctionNeochamaelea PulverulentaSeed DispersalCiencias Ambientales y de la TierraFil: Jordano, Pedro. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.Fil: Valido, Alfredo. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.Fil: Pérez Méndez, Néstor. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España.Extinction-driven, body-size reduction of seed dispersers (i.e. an ecological downsizing resulting from severe defaunation) can entail the loss of unique ecological functions, and impair plant regeneration. However, the manner in which the downsizing of mutualistic animals affects seed dispersal and plant recruitment remains understudied. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment in the Canarian archipelago to document the consequences of lizards body-size reduction (Gallotia, Lacertidae) on the recruitment of Neochamaelea pulverulenta (Rutaceae), which relies exclusively on these frugivores for seed dispersal. Subsequent to the arrival of humans (ca. 2000–2500 yr BP), the extinction of large-bodied lizards generated a gradient of increasing defaunation on the three islands inhabited by this plant. We hypothesized a significant reduction, and eventually collapse, of early seedling recruitment mirroring the defaunation intensity of the frugivores. We sampled 42 populations spanning the whole geographic range of the plant to examine the quantitative (age structure pattern) and qualitative components (proportion of seedlings growing outside the canopy, number of seedlings established outside the canopy relative to the number of adults – effective recruitment rate, and seedling vigour) of plant regeneration. Our results show that the age structure patterns did not differ among the three contrasted insular scenarios. However, we found significant reductions in seedling recruitment outside the canopy, effective recruitment rate, and delayed negative effects on seedling vigour in populations hosting small- to medium-sized lizard species. Thus, extirpation of large seed-dispersers did not cause substantial reductions in quantitative components of seed dispersal, but determined declines in qualitative aspects impairing dispersal effectiveness. Our study highlights the importance of examining all components of the dispersal and recruitment process to properly document the regeneration outcomes of plants in defaunated, downsized ecological scenariosELSEVIER SCIENCE BV2014info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfPérez Méndez, N., Jordano, P., & Valido, A. (2015). Downsized mutualisms: consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 17(2), 151-159.1433-8319http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12049/559https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2014.12.001engPerspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematicsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/reponame:RID-UNRN (UNRN)instname:Universidad Nacional de Río Negro2025-09-29T14:29:17Zoai:rid.unrn.edu.ar:20.500.12049/559instacron:UNRNInstitucionalhttps://rid.unrn.edu.ar/jspui/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttps://rid.unrn.edu.ar/oai/snrdrid@unrn.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:43692025-09-29 14:29:18.123RID-UNRN (UNRN) - Universidad Nacional de Río Negrofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
title |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
spellingShingle |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment Pérez Méndez, Néstor Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra Canary Islands Defaunation Gallotia Lizard Extinction Neochamaelea Pulverulenta Seed Dispersal Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra |
title_short |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
title_full |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
title_fullStr |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
title_sort |
Downsized mutualisms: Consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment |
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Pérez Méndez, Néstor Jordano, Pedro Alfredo, Valido |
author |
Pérez Méndez, Néstor |
author_facet |
Pérez Méndez, Néstor Jordano, Pedro Alfredo, Valido |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Jordano, Pedro Alfredo, Valido |
author2_role |
author author |
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra Canary Islands Defaunation Gallotia Lizard Extinction Neochamaelea Pulverulenta Seed Dispersal Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra |
topic |
Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra Canary Islands Defaunation Gallotia Lizard Extinction Neochamaelea Pulverulenta Seed Dispersal Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra |
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv |
Fil: Jordano, Pedro. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España. Fil: Valido, Alfredo. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España. Fil: Pérez Méndez, Néstor. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España. Extinction-driven, body-size reduction of seed dispersers (i.e. an ecological downsizing resulting from severe defaunation) can entail the loss of unique ecological functions, and impair plant regeneration. However, the manner in which the downsizing of mutualistic animals affects seed dispersal and plant recruitment remains understudied. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment in the Canarian archipelago to document the consequences of lizards body-size reduction (Gallotia, Lacertidae) on the recruitment of Neochamaelea pulverulenta (Rutaceae), which relies exclusively on these frugivores for seed dispersal. Subsequent to the arrival of humans (ca. 2000–2500 yr BP), the extinction of large-bodied lizards generated a gradient of increasing defaunation on the three islands inhabited by this plant. We hypothesized a significant reduction, and eventually collapse, of early seedling recruitment mirroring the defaunation intensity of the frugivores. We sampled 42 populations spanning the whole geographic range of the plant to examine the quantitative (age structure pattern) and qualitative components (proportion of seedlings growing outside the canopy, number of seedlings established outside the canopy relative to the number of adults – effective recruitment rate, and seedling vigour) of plant regeneration. Our results show that the age structure patterns did not differ among the three contrasted insular scenarios. However, we found significant reductions in seedling recruitment outside the canopy, effective recruitment rate, and delayed negative effects on seedling vigour in populations hosting small- to medium-sized lizard species. Thus, extirpation of large seed-dispersers did not cause substantial reductions in quantitative components of seed dispersal, but determined declines in qualitative aspects impairing dispersal effectiveness. Our study highlights the importance of examining all components of the dispersal and recruitment process to properly document the regeneration outcomes of plants in defaunated, downsized ecological scenarios |
description |
Fil: Jordano, Pedro. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC). Sevilla; España. |
publishDate |
2014 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2014 |
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
Pérez Méndez, N., Jordano, P., & Valido, A. (2015). Downsized mutualisms: consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 17(2), 151-159. 1433-8319 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12049/559 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2014.12.001 |
identifier_str_mv |
Pérez Méndez, N., Jordano, P., & Valido, A. (2015). Downsized mutualisms: consequences of seed dispersers’ body-size reduction for early plant recruitment. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 17(2), 151-159. 1433-8319 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12049/559 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2014.12.001 |
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ |
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ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV |
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ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV |
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RID-UNRN (UNRN) - Universidad Nacional de Río Negro |
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