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Understanding the ecological and evolutionary aspects of mutualistic interactions is essential for predicting species responses to environmental changes. This study aimed to investigate the phenological patterns and reproductive strategies in two closely related fig tree species, Ficus citrifolia and Ficus eximia . We monitored 99 F. citrifolia and 21 F. eximia trees weekly from January 2006 to April 2011 in an area close to the southern edge of the tropical region in Brazil. Our results revealed contrasting phenological patterns between the two species, with F. citrifolia displaying an annual flowering pattern (1.4 episodes per tree per year) and F. eximia a supra-annual pattern (0.5 episodes per tree per year). We also found significant differences in reproductive strategies, with F. eximia producing more pistillate flowers and, consequently, more seeds and pollinating wasps per fig than F. citrifolia , likely as an adaptation to overcome limitations of low population density by maximizing the gene flow. As the shorter-lived organism, the fig wasp was found to influence critical processes associated with the success and stability of mutualism, such as fig development and ripening. Our findings emphasize the importance of understanding the intricate interactions between mutualistic partners and their adaptive responses to environmental conditions in shaping fig tree populations' reproductive strategies and genetic structure.

Encounters between flowers and invertebrates are key events for the functioning of tropical forests. Assessing the structure of networks composed of the interactions between those partners leads to a better understanding of ecosystem functioning and the effects of environmental factors on ecological processes. Gathering such data is, however, costly and time-consuming, especially in the highly diverse tropics. We aimed to provide a comprehensive repository of available flower-invertebrate interaction information for the Atlantic Forest, a South American tropical forest domain. Data were obtained from published works and "gray literature," such as theses and dissertations, as well as self-reports by co-authors. The data set has ~18,000 interaction records forming 482 networks, each containing between one and 1061 interaction links. Each network was sampled for about 200 h or less, with few exceptions. A total of 641 plant genera within 136 different families and 39 orders were reported, with the most abundant and rich families being Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Rubiaceae. Invertebrates interacting with these plants were all arthropods from 10 orders, 129 families, and 581 genera, comprising 2419 morphotypes (including 988 named species). Hymenoptera was the most abundant and diverse order, with at least six times more records than the second-ranked order (Lepidoptera). The complete data set shows Hymenoptera interacting with all plant orders and also shows Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera to be important nodes. Among plants, Asterales and Fabales had the highest number of interactions. The best sampled environment was forest (~8000 records), followed by pastures and crops. Savanna, grasslands, and urban environments (among others) were also reported, indicating a wide range of approaches dedicated to collecting flower-invertebrate interaction data in the Atlantic Forest domain. Nevertheless, most reported data were from forest understory or lower strata, indicating a knowledge gap about flower-invertebrate interactions at the canopy. Also, access to remote regions remains a limitation, generating sampling bias across the geographical range of the Atlantic Forest. Future studies in these continuous and hard-to-access forested areas will yield important new information regarding the interactions between flowers and invertebrates in the Atlantic Forest. There are no copyright restrictions on the data set. Please cite this data paper if the data are used in publications and teaching events., (© 2022 The Ecological Society of America.)

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events., (© 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of America.)