Plant-animal frugivore interactions and beyond in Do?ana's fruiting season: Insights from DNA barcoding

In this database, we present plant-animal interactions in the lowland forest community of Do?ana National Park during the fruiting season. Our focus primarily lies on plant-frugivore interactions but we also report data on animals that visits fruiting plants. We used DNA-based molecular analysis on faecal samples and regurgitated seeds from fleshy-fruited plant species to identify the frugivore species involved in each dispersal event and other animal species visiting plants. Sampling was conducted over the fruiting seasons from 2018 to 2022. We used seed traps and transects that were stratified across several forest and scrubland communities. Our dataset contains 13,835 pairwise interaction records derived from 8,783 collected samples. Of these records, 6,358 correspond to frugivorous interactions, while 7,477 correspond to animals visiting plants. The dataset encompasses 19 plant species, 39 bird species (with 30 of them being frugivores), 7 mammal species (with 6 of them being frugivores), 2 reptile species, 2 amphibia species, and 1 insect species. Each interaction is recorded as an event, defined by the encounter of species at a specific location and time. The interactions are further described in terms of the partners involved, allowing for multiple occurrences within the same event.