title: How mammalian predation contributes to tropical tree community structure.
abstract: The recruitment of seedlings from seeds is the key demographic transition for rain forest trees. Though tropical forest mammals are known to consume many seeds, their effects on tree community structure remain little known. To evaluate their effects, we monitored 8,000 seeds of 24 tree species using exclosure cages that were selectively permeable to three size classes of mammals for up to 4.4 years. Small and medium-bodied mammals removed many more seeds than did large mammals, and they alone generated beta diversity and negative density dependence, whereas all mammals reduced diversity and shaped local species composition. Thus, small and medium-bodied mammals more strongly contributed to community structure and promoted species coexistence than did large mammals. Given that seedling recruitment is seed limited for most species, alterations to the composition of the community of mammalian seed predators is expected to have long-term consequences for tree community structure in tropical forests.
authors.affiliation: Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: C E Timothy
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Paine
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, Maryland, 21252, USA.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: Duke University Center for Tropical Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, PO Box 90318, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA.|Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Terborgh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D017753:Ecosystem; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014197:Trees / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology*; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Peru; agouti; beta diversity; defaunation; negative density dependence; peccary ; seed predation; seed size; species composition