The Birds and the Seeds: When species are lost from ecosystems through local extinction, the pattern of ecological interactions changes.Galettiet al.(p.1086) show how the loss of large fruit-eating birds from tropical forest fragments in Brazil affects the reduction of seed size in a palm species. A data set was compiled that consisted of >9000 seeds measured in 22 populations over a large area of Atlantic rainforest, including seven areas where large-seed dispersers (toucans, cracids, and large cotingas) were extinct and 15 areas where they are still common.

Functional redundancy has been debated largely in ecology and conservation, yet we lack detailed empirical studies on the roles of functionally similar species in ecosystem function. Large bodied frugivores may disperse similar plant species and have strong impact on plant recruitment in tropical forests. The two largest frugivores in the neotropics, tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) and muriquis (Brachyteles arachnoides) are potential candidates for functional redundancy on seed dispersal effectiveness. Here we provide a comparison of the quantitative, qualitative and spatial effects on seed dispersal by these megafrugivores in a continuous Brazilian Atlantic forest. We found a low overlap of plant species dispersed by both muriquis and tapirs. A group of 35 muriquis occupied an area of 850 ha and dispersed 5 times more plant species, and 13 times more seeds than 22 tapirs living in the same area. Muriquis dispersed 2.4 times more seeds in any random position than tapirs. This can be explained mainly because seed deposition by muriquis leaves less empty space than tapirs. However, tapirs are able to disperse larger seeds than muriquis and move them into sites not reached by primates, such as large forest gaps, open areas and fragments nearby. Based on published information we found 302 plant species that are dispersed by at least one of these megafrugivores in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Our study showed that both megafrugivores play complementary rather than redundant roles as seed dispersers. Although tapirs disperse fewer seeds and species than muriquis, they disperse larger-seeded species and in places not used by primates. The selective extinction of these megafrugivores will change the spatial seed rain they generate and may have negative effects on the recruitment of several plant species, particularly those with large seeds that have muriquis and tapirs as the last living seed dispersers.

Defaunation can trigger cascading events in natural communities and may have strong consequences for plant recruitment in tropical forests. Several species of large seed predators, such as deer and peccaries, are facing dramatic population collapse in tropical forests yet we do not have information about the consequences of these extinctions for seed predation. Using remote camera traps we tested if defaunated forests have a lower seed predation rate of a keystone palm (Euterpe edulis) than pristine areas. Contrary to our expectation, we found that seed predation rates were 2.5 higher in defaunated forests and small rodents were responsible for most of the seeds eaten. Our results found that defaunation leads to changes in the seed predator communities with potential consequences for plant–animal interactions