Fungi and insects compensate for lost vertebrate seed predation in an experimentally defaunated tropical forest

Ecologists predict that loss of large vertebrates will alter tropical plant communities. Here, the authors report a field experiment on seed mortality and seedling establishment in Borneo, in which experimental defaunation of large seed consumers was functionally compensated by insects and fungi.

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Peter Jeffrey Williams, Robert C. Ong, Jedediah F. Brodie, Matthew Scott Luskin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2021-03-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21978-8