Pulp feeders alter plant interactions with subsequent animal associates

Abstract

Summary Community context can alter the likelihood of interactions among community members and thus exert critical ecological effects with potential evolutionary implications. For instance, plant–animal mutualisms can be exploited by third species that usurp the resources and/or service that the mutualists offer, while delivering limited or no benefits in return. We experimentally revealed for the first time how exploiters of plant–disperser mutualisms (i.e. pulp feeders) alter the frequency of plant interactions with subsequent mutualistic (seed dispersers) and antagonistic (seed predators) animal associates. In doing so, we chose to study the endozoochore Pyrus bourgaeana, which interacts with a diverse assemblage of frugivores including exploiters (pulp‐feeding rabbits), legitimate seed dispersers (mammalian carnivores) and seed and fruit predators (rodents and deer, respectively). We hypothesized that pulp feeders would render fruit barely rewarding, affecting subsequent tree–animal interactions. As predicted, pulp removal lessened tree dispersal success (i.e. lowered interaction frequency with seed dispersers) causing an indirect negative effect on its fitness. Furthermore, pulp feeders facilitated foraging by seed‐eating rodents, leading to a negative indirect effect on seed survival. Nonetheless, these negative effects of pulp removal on tree fitness were partly counterbalanced by a noticeable decrease in fruit predation by deer. Because both seed dispersers and seed predators preferred large fruits, they exerted selection pressures on fruit size in opposite directions; thus, the net selection regime on fruit size experienced by the tree appeared largely contingent on community composition. Synthesis. Our results illustrate how interactions among functionally distinct frugivores can act synergistically or antagonistically and thus alter their ecological outcomes in ways that differ from those predicted by pairwise interactions. Further research on the relationships between fruiting plants and their consumers will certainly further our understanding of how community context can modify ecological and evolutionary outcomes of complex multispecies interactions.