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Black Manakin (Xenopipo atronitens) as a keystone species for seed dispersal in a white-sand vegetation enclave in Southwest Amazonia

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Abstract

Mutualistic interactions between plants and birds entail benefits for both organisms. While the birds obtain a nutritional resource when feeding on fruit, for example, the plant species benefits from having its seeds dispersed away from the mother-plant. Campinarana ecosystems grow on the white-sand substrates found irregularly within the Amazon basin. We conducted the present study in an enclave of campinarana in the municipality of Mâncio Lima, in the western extreme of the Brazilian state of Acre. We used mist-nets to capture birds, from which we also collected fecal samples. The seeds encountered in these samples were identified and used to establish a bird–plant interaction network, through which we analyzed the connectance, nestedness, centrality analysis, and robustness of the interactions. We recorded 69 of the 648 possible interactions, in which 12 bird species interacted with 54 plant taxa, with intermediate connectance (C = 10.65%) and non-significant nestedness (N = 11.36; p = 0.1). The bird–plant interaction network of the campinarana enclave sampled in the present study had a random robustness of Rr = 0.52 and robustness of the degree of connectivity of Rd = 0.15. Based on its centrality analysis and robustness, black manakin, Xenopipo atronitens, was the most central bird species, responsible for the maintenance of the stability and structure of the interaction network. Given these findings, and its disproportionate mutualistic interactions with the plant taxa, in comparison with the other local frugivorous bird species, we consider X. atronitens to be a keystone species in this white-sand vegetation ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Brazilian Coordination for Higher Education Personnel Training (CAPES) for a graduate stipend, UFAC and the Graduate Program in Ecology and the Management of Natural Resources, for supporting the present study. We would also like to thank the members of the UFAC Ornithology Laboratory for sharing knowledge and those of the UFAC Plant Ecology Laboratory for helping to identify the seeds collected in the field. Maíra Santos is grateful to the residents of the Santa Barbara community for their hospitality and respect during the months that she collected data on the PPBio trail.

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  1. Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Manejo de Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil

    Maíra Santos

  2. Laboratório de Ornitologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Natureza, Universidade Federal do Acre, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil

    Luana Alencar & Edson Guilherme

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  1. Maíra Santos
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  2. Luana Alencar
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Correspondence to Maíra Santos.

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Santos, M., Alencar, L. & Guilherme, E. Black Manakin (Xenopipo atronitens) as a keystone species for seed dispersal in a white-sand vegetation enclave in Southwest Amazonia. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 23, 55–62 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42974-021-00072-5

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