title: From ratites to rats: the size of fleshy fruits shapes species' distributions and continental rainforest assembly.
abstract: Seed dispersal is a key process in plant spatial dynamics. However, consistently applicable generalizations about dispersal across scales are mostly absent because of the constraints on measuring propagule dispersal distances for many species. Here, we focus on fleshy-fruited taxa, specifically taxa with large fleshy fruits and their dispersers across an entire continental rainforest biome. We compare species-level results of whole-chloroplast DNA analyses in sister taxa with large and small fruits, to regional plot-based samples (310 plots), and whole-continent patterns for the distribution of woody species with either large (more than 30 mm) or smaller fleshy fruits (1093 taxa). The pairwise genomic comparison found higher genetic distances between populations and between regions in the large-fruited species (Endiandra globosa), but higher overall diversity within the small-fruited species (Endiandra discolor). Floristic comparisons among plots confirmed lower numbers of large-fruited species in areas where more extreme rainforest contraction occurred, and re-colonization by small-fruited species readily dispersed by the available fauna. Species' distribution patterns showed that larger-fruited species had smaller geographical ranges than smaller-fruited species and locations with stable refugia (and high endemism) aligned with concentrations of large fleshy-fruited taxa, making them a potentially valuable conservation-planning indicator.
authors.affiliation: National Herbarium of NSW, The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia QAAFI, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia maurizio.rossetto@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossetto
authors.affiliation: National Herbarium of NSW, The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kooyman
authors.affiliation: National Herbarium of NSW, The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia QAAFI, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
authors.forename: Jia-Yee S
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Shawn W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Laffan
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D005638:Fruit / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics; D054628:Genome, Chloroplast; D018745:Genome, Plant; D019770:Lauraceae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics; D063148:Plant Dispersal; D065947:Rainforest; D012639:Seeds; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant
keywords: Australia; chloroplast genome; dispersal; fruit size; next generation sequencing; rainforest assembly