Moving from frugivory to seed dispersal: incorporating the functional outcomes of interactions in plant-frugivore networks

1.There is growing interest in understanding the functional outcomes of species interactions in ecological networks. For many mutualistic networks, including pollination and seed dispersal networks, interactions are generally sampled by recording animal foraging visits to plants. However, these visits may not reflect actual pollination or seed dispersal events, despite these typically being the ecological processes of interest. 2.Frugivorous animals can act as seed dispersers, by swallowing entire fruits and dispersing their seeds, or as pulp peckers or seed predators, by pecking fruits to consume pieces of pulp or seeds. These processes have opposing consequences for plant reproductive success. Therefore, equating visitation with seed dispersal could lead to biased inferences about the ecology, evolution and conservation of seed dispersal mutualisms. 3.Here we use natural history information on the functional outcomes of pairwise bird‐plant interactions to examine changes in the ...1. 当前学界对解析生态网络中物种互作的功能效应的兴趣与日俱增。针对包括传粉（pollination）网络与种子传播（seed dispersal）网络在内的诸多互利共生网络（mutualistic networks），研究通常通过记录动物对植物的觅食访问来采样互作关系。然而，尽管这类访问行为对应的生态过程正是研究关注的核心，但它们未必能反映真实的传粉或种子传播事件。 2. 食果动物（frugivorous animals）可通过吞食完整果实并散播种子的方式充当种子传播者，也可通过啄食果实以获取果肉或种子的角色，成为果肉啄食者或种子捕食者（seed predators）。这两类过程对植物繁殖成功率的影响截然相反。因此，若将动物访问直接等同于种子传播事件，可能会对种子传播互利共生关系的生态学、进化与保护研究得出有偏推论。 3. 本研究借助针对鸟类-植物两两互作功能效应的自然历史信息，旨在探究……