Fruit quality tradeoffs promote asymmetries in plant dependence on mutualistic seed dispersal

This repository contains all data and codes of the manuscript "Fruit quality tradeoffs promote asymmetries in plant dependence on mutualistic seed dispersal" by João Vitor S. Messeder and Tomás A. Carlo.

Datasets include the data colected in field to measure frugivory interactions, density of adult plants, seedling emergence from the seed-addition experiment, fruit trait data, and seed germination experiments.

Our objectives consisted of:1- Sample frugivory interactions in the field for three Solanum species (S. americanum, S. carolinense, S. dulcamara) and compare visitation rates and fruit removal rates among them.2- Perform a seed germination experiment under laboratory conditions to evaluate the germination profile of the three species while quantifying the proportions of dormant and embryoless seeds.3- Conduct a seed addition experiment in the field to evaluate the effects of seed density and gradual seed deposition (emulating frugivore dispersal) on the emergence rates for each Solanum species.4- Quantify in the field the occurrence, density, and spatial distribution of adult individuals of each species in open areas and along fence lines and forest edges to evaluate if dispersal by frugivores can be reflected in the distribution patterns of adults

For details on research questions, hypotheses, sampling design, and analyses please refer to the original manuscript (reference information to be added after manuscript publication).

Please see the README.txt file for detailed information about datasets and code.