Flying foxes cease to function as seed dispersers long before they become rare.

Abstract:

:Rare species play limited ecological roles, but particular behavioral traits may predispose species to become functionally extinct before becoming rare. Flying foxes (Pteropodid fruit bats) are important dispersers of large seeds, but their effectiveness is hypothesized to depend on high population density that induces aggressive interactions. In a Pacific archipelago, we quantified the proportion of seeds that flying foxes dispersed beyond the fruiting canopy, across a range of sites that differed in flying fox abundance. We found the relationship between ecological function (seed dispersal) and flying fox abundance was nonlinear and consistent with the hypothesis. For most trees in sites below a threshold abundance of flying foxes, flying foxes dispersed < 1% of the seeds they handled. Above the threshold, dispersal away from trees increased to 58% as animal abundance approximately doubled. Hence, flying foxes may cease to be effective seed dispersers long before becoming rare. As many species' populations decline worldwide, identifying those with threshold relationships is an important precursor to preservation of ecologically effective densities.

journal_name

Ecology

journal_title

Ecology

authors

McConkey KR,Drake DR

doi

10.1890/05-0386

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2006-02-01 00:00:00

pages

271-6

issue

2

eissn

0012-9658

issn

1939-9170

journal_volume

87

pub_type

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