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<p>Animals feeding on plants may benefit them through seed dispersal or harm them through seed predation, causing net interaction outcomes along an antagonism–mutualism continuum that remains poorly understood. We systematically monitored 6,012 foraging visits of 25 bird species interacting with 40 plant species over a full annual cycle. Interaction outcomes (seed predation, fruit defleshing, and seed dispersal) and dispersal mechanisms (endozoochory, stomatochory, and epizoochory) were shaped by fruit traits, bird feeding strategies, and fruit-to-bird size ratios. However, nearly all bird species (and 10% of individual foraging visits) combined multiple interaction outcomes, seed predators often acting as effective non-endozoochorous dispersers. This flexibility generated polychory in 50% of plant species, while 47.5% were dispersed by birds solely through stomatochory or epizoochory, mechanisms overlooked by classical dispersal syndromes. Our findings portray birds as dynamic, context-dependent agents of seed fate, highlight the need to integrate trait-based and behavioural perspectives in seed dispersal ecology.</p><p></p>

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Context-dependent plant–bird interactions shape polychory across the antagonism–mutualism continuum

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月28日

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  • Dailos Hernández-Brito,
  • Fernando Hiraldo,
  • Jaume Izquierdo-Palma,
  • José L. Tella,
  • Martina Carrete

摘要

Animals feeding on plants may benefit them through seed dispersal or harm them through seed predation, causing net interaction outcomes along an antagonism–mutualism continuum that remains poorly understood. We systematically monitored 6,012 foraging visits of 25 bird species interacting with 40 plant species over a full annual cycle. Interaction outcomes (seed predation, fruit defleshing, and seed dispersal) and dispersal mechanisms (endozoochory, stomatochory, and epizoochory) were shaped by fruit traits, bird feeding strategies, and fruit-to-bird size ratios. However, nearly all bird species (and 10% of individual foraging visits) combined multiple interaction outcomes, seed predators often acting as effective non-endozoochorous dispersers. This flexibility generated polychory in 50% of plant species, while 47.5% were dispersed by birds solely through stomatochory or epizoochory, mechanisms overlooked by classical dispersal syndromes. Our findings portray birds as dynamic, context-dependent agents of seed fate, highlight the need to integrate trait-based and behavioural perspectives in seed dispersal ecology.