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Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Title:		Evolutionary cascades induced by large frugivores
Author(s):		Brodie JF;
Address:		"Division of Biological Sciences & Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812 jedediah.brodie@umontana.edu"
Journal Title:		Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Year:		2017
Volume:		20171023
Issue:		45
Page Number:		11998 - 12002
DOI:		10.1073/pnas.1710172114
ISSN/ISBN:		1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Large, fruit-eating vertebrates have been lost from many of the world's ecosystems. The ecological consequences of this defaunation can be severe, but the evolutionary consequences are nearly unknown because it remains unclear whether frugivores exert strong selection on fruit traits. I assessed the macroevolution of fruit traits in response to variation in the diversity and size of seed-dispersing vertebrates. Across the Indo-Malay Archipelago, many of the same plant lineages have been exposed to very different assemblages of seed-dispersing vertebrates. Phylogenetic analysis of >400 plant species in 41 genera and five families revealed that average fruit size tracks the taxonomic and functional diversity of frugivorous birds and mammals. Fruit size was 40.2-46.5% smaller in the Moluccas and Sulawesi (respectively), with relatively depauperate assemblages of mostly small-bodied animals, than in the Sunda Region (Borneo, Sumatra, and Peninsular Malaysia), with a highly diverse suite of large and small animals. Fruit color, however, was unrelated to vertebrate diversity or to the representation of birds versus mammals in the frugivore assemblage. Overhunting of large animals, nearly ubiquitous in tropical forests, could strongly alter selection pressures on plants, resulting in widespread, although trait-specific, morphologic changes"
Keywords:		"Animals *Biological Evolution Ecosystem Fruit/classification/*physiology Herbivory/*physiology Indonesia Malaysia Models, Theoretical Sapindaceae/classification/genetics/*physiology Seed Dispersal/physiology Seeds/physiology Wallace Line defaunation hunti;"
Notes:		"MedlineBrodie, Jedediah F eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2017/10/29 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Nov 7; 114(45):11998-12002. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1710172114. Epub 2017 Oct 23"