Large frugivores matter more on an island: insights from island-mainland comparison of plant-frugivore communities

Endozoochory, a mutualistic interaction between plants and frugivores, is one of the key processes responsible for maintenance of tropical biodiversity. Islands, which have a smaller subset of plants and frugivores when compared with mainland communities, offer an interesting setting to understand the organization of plant-frugivore communities vis-a-vis the mainland sites.  We examined the relative influence of functional traits and phylogenetic relationships on the plant-seed disperser interactions on an island and a mainland site. The island site allowed us to investigate the organization of the plant-seed disperser community in the natural absence of key frugivore groups (bulbuls and barbets) of Asian tropics. The endemic Narcondam Hornbill, was the most abundant frugivore on the island and played a central role in the community. Species strength of frugivores (a measure of relevance of frugivores for plants) was positively associated with their abundance. Among plants, figs had the...