Human-induced downsizing of animal communities weakens trait matching between tropical plants and frugivores

Defaunation of large-bodied animals threatens essential ecosystem functions, such as seed dispersal. However, the impact of this ‘downsizing’ of animal communities on plant-frugivore trait matching—the alignment of frugivory-related plant traits (e.g., fruit size) with frugivore traits (e.g., body mass)—remains poorly understood at macroecological scales. Here, we investigate how human disturbance and environmental conditions influence trait matching in plant-frugivore networks across the tropics. We compiled data on fruit size and several other frugivory-related plant traits, frugivore body mass, and diet information for 1,927 plant and 1,120 animal species and integrated these with 12,708 interaction records across 102 networks. The datasets provided include: Plant-frugivore interaction data (Dataset S1), the plant trait data (Dataset S2), the frugivore trait data (Dataset S3), and the network data (incl. environmental and human impact data; Dataset S4). Data sources are pro..., , # Human-induced downsizing of animal communities weakens trait matching between tropical plants and frugivores

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.g1jwstr3h](10.5061/dryad.g1jwstr3h)

## Description of the data and file structure

Four datasets are provided, including different columns with information.

### Files and variables

#### File: Dataset_S1_Network_Plant_Frugivore_Complete.xlsx

**Description:** **Plant-frugivore network data: Dataset S1.** 

We sourced the plant-frugivore interaction data from a comprehensive global dataset compiled by Fricke and Svenning (2020). This dataset consists of 410 local interaction networks, each constructed based on direct observations of animals interacting with fruits or seeds or from seeds retrieved from captured animals. These networks are bipartite, representing interactions between animal and plant species. While some networks recorded interaction frequencies, we used them in a binary format (presence or absence) due to inconsistencies in how frequ...,