Why do understorey Licuala palm fruits turn from red to white and then black when ripe?

Licuala ferruginea Becc., a tropical forest understorey palm, is observed to have fruits that appear red in colour when unripe, turning pink, then white, purple and finally black in colour as they ripen. We monitored 13 fruiting palms in rainforest fragments and recorded the consumption of fruits by animals via camera traps. We also documented the fruiting phenology of two palms in the nursery.
In the rainforest fragments, a Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) was observed plucking a mature purple fruit from a L. ferruginea palm, before flying away with the fruit in its beak. This was the only bird that was observed feeding on the mature fruit. A range of mammals, dominated by edge species such as the Long-tailed Macaque and Wild Boar, were observed to consume L. ferruginea fruits indiscriminately across all five colour stages, thereby limiting the dispersal of the fruits. Forest bulbul gape sizes also matched the fruit size, suggesting that forest bulbuls are the likely dispersers..., Study overview
This study was conducted in the field and nursery as follows: (a) natural lowland primary and secondary rainforest fragments of Singapore and (b) growing plant house in the nursery with understorey-lighting conditions (Figure 1). Within the lowland rainforest fragments at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR; between 1.3463 and 1.3627 latitude and 103.7695 and 103.7876 longitude), Central Catchment Nature Reserve (CCNR; between 1.3355 and 1.4157 latitude and 103.7741 and 103.8380 longitude) and Singapore Botanic Gardens Rainforest (SBG; between 1.3111 and 1.3149 latitude and 103.8151 and 103.8170 longitude), clusters of L. ferruginea palms were identified (Figures 2 I-II). A total of 17 fruiting L. ferruginea palms were identified and monitored over two years, from 2021 to 2022, using camera traps. This sought to identify animals that were visiting and feeding on the fruits, and hence understand the frugivores that were dispersing the fruits of L. ferruginea palms.
At the sam..., , # Why do understorey Licuala palm fruits turn from red to white and then black when ripe?

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jj0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jj0)

This study looks at the changes in Licuala ferruginea reflectance, sugar contents, and animal fruigvory/visitation across the different stages of ripeness of Licuala ferruginea fruits. 

Files included in this repository:

This dataset contains data on the relative reflectance of Licuala ferruginea fruits at various stages of ripening (**Licuala fruit relative reflectance (Handheld Specim IQ).csv** and **Licuala fruit relative reflectance (Ocean Insight PX-2).csv**), fructose, glucose and total sugar content of L. ferruginea fruits at various stages of ripening (**Licuala fruit sugar content.csv**) and camera trap data for L. ferruginea (**Licuala camera trap triggers.csv**).

## Description of the data and file structure

Licuala fruit relative reflectance (Handheld Specim IQ).csv

* Relative_Reflectance_Wavelengt...