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The geographic distribution of seed-dispersal mutualisms in North America

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Abstract

It is often difficult to determine the relative importance of different sorts of species interactions in shaping community structure or how communities function because we lack basic information on patterns of occurrence of biotic interactions. Here we determine the geographic distribution of seed-dispersal mutualisms across North America, and then test the hypotheses that those patterns are correlated with mean annual precipitation and latitude. We analyze the floras of 197 sites across North America to identify which species of native seed plants are dispersed by animals in one of three types of plant-animal mutualisms: frugivory, scatter hoarding, and ants. We identified 1655 plant species that are involved in these seed-dispersal mutualisms. 16.5 ± 6.5% of all seed plants across North America are dispersed by animals; 10.0 ± 4.2% by frugivores, 3.7 ± 1.7% by scatter hoarders, and 3.9 ± 2.2% by ants. Secondary dispersal by a different mode and vector (e.g., wind dispersal followed by scatter hoarding, or ballistic dispersal followed by myrmecochory) occurred in 16.8% of all plant mutualist records. Although each mode of dispersal showed a different pattern, the prevalence of seed-dispersal mutualisms increased with mean annual precipitation. The prevalence of seed dispersal by frugivory and scatter-hoarding decreased with increasing latitude. The prevalence of seed-dispersal interactions varies dramatically across North America. The center of greatest diversity for all three types of seed-dispersal mutualisms is the eastern United States, roughly coincident with the eastern deciduous forest. Knowing the distribution of species interactions improves our understanding of how the structure and functioning of communities varies across environmental gradients.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the thousands of botanists who invested countless hours collecting, identifying, and cataloging the plants used to compile the 197 comprehensive plant lists used in this study. This project would have been impossible without them. Chris Moore helped with statistical analyses and graphics and helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank Szabolcs Lengyel for his help identifying North American myrmecochores. Lee Dyer, Matthew Forister, Peter Weisberg, Richard Tracy, and William Longland gave helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA

    Stephen B. Vander Wall

  2. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA

    Stephen B. Vander Wall & Sarah C. Barga

  3. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA

    Sarah C. Barga

  4. Montana Audubon Society, P.O. Box 595, Helena, MT, 59624, USA

    Amy E. Seaman

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  1. Stephen B. Vander Wall
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Correspondence to Stephen B. Vander Wall.

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Vander Wall, S.B., Barga, S.C. & Seaman, A.E. The geographic distribution of seed-dispersal mutualisms in North America. Evol Ecol 31, 725–740 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-017-9899-y

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