Evolutionary cascades induced by large frugivores #MMPMID29078339
Brodie JF
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017[Nov]; 114 (45): 11998-2002 PMID29078339show ga
How eating animals affect the evolution of fruit-producing plants is still poorly understood. This is important because large vertebrates are being overhunted in ecosystems around the world, which might force plants to alter phenotypes in response to the loss of these animals. I used a natural experiment in which many of the same plant lineages in a large and megadiverse tropical archipelago have been exposed to very different suites of vertebrates on different islands. Statistical analysis that accounts for species? shared evolutionary histories revealed that average fruit sizes across more than 400 plant species were positively related to the diversity and size of the fruit-eating birds and mammals in each area. Fruit color, however, was not affected by the vertebrate assemblage.
free
free
free
Proc+Natl+Acad+Sci+U+S+A 2017 ; 114 (45): 11998-2002
