Seed‐dispersal networks are more specialized in the Neotropics than in the Afrotropics

Fil: Dugger, Phillip James. Universidad de Antioch Nueva Inglaterra. Departamento de Estudios Ambientales; Estados Unidos. Fil: Blendinger, Pedro Gerardo. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina. Fil: Blendinger, Pedro Gerardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina. Fil: Böhning-Gaese, Katrin. Instituto Senckenberg-Leibniz. Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y el Clima de Senckenberg (Frankfurt); Alemania. Fil: Böhning-Gaese, Katrin. Universidad Goethe. Instituto de Ecología, Diversidad y Evolución; Alemania. Fil: Chama, Lackson. Universidad de Copperbelt. Escuela de Recursos Naturales. Departamento de Zoología y Ciencias Acuáticas; Zambia. Fil: Correia, Marta. Universidad de Coímbra. Centro de Ecología Funcional. Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida; Portugal. Fil: Dehling, D. Matthias. Universidad de Canterbury. Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas. Centro de Ecología Integrativa; Nueva Zelanda. Fil: Emer, Carine. Universidad Estatal Paulista. Instituto de Biociencias. Departamento de Ecología; Brasil. Fil: Farwig, Nina. Universidad de Marburgo. Facultad de Biología; Alemania. Fil: Fricke, Evan C. Universidad Estatal de Iowa. Departamento de Ecología, Evolución y Biología Organismal; Estados Unidos. Fil: Galetti, Mauro. Universidad Estatal Paulista. Instituto de Biociencias. Departamento de Ecología; Brasil. Fil: García, Daniel. Universidad de Oviedo. Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas; España. Fil: García, Daniel. Universidad de Oviedo. Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Biodiversidad; España. Fil: García, Daniel. Principado de Asturias (España). Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Biodiversidad; España. Fil: Grass, Ingo. Universidad de Göttingen. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Departamento de Ciencias de los Cultivos; Alemania. Fil: Heleno, Ruben. Universidad de Coímbra. Centro de Ecología Funcional. Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida; Portugal. Fil: Jacomassa, Fábio André Facco. Universidad Estatal Paulista, Departamento de Zoología; Brasil. Fil: Jacomassa, Fábio André Facco. Universidad Estatal do Centro Oeste. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Programa de Pos‐Graduación en Biología Evolutiva; Brasil. Aim: Biogeographical comparisons of interaction networks help to elucidate diffeences in ecological communities and ecosystem functioning at large scales. Neotropical ecosystems have higher diversity and a different composition of frugivores and fleshy‐fruited plants compared with Afrotropical systems, but a lack of intercontinental comparisons limits understanding of (a) whether plant–frugivore networks are structured in a similar manner, and (b) whether the same species traits define the roles of animals across continents. Location: Afrotropics and Neotropics. Time period: 1977–2015. Taxa: Fleshy‐fruited plants and frugivorous vertebrates. Methods: We compiled a dataset comprising 17 Afrotropical and 48 Neotropical weighted seed‐dispersal networks quantifying frugivory interactions between 1,091 fleshy‐fruited plant and 665 animal species, comprising in total 8,251 interaction links between plants and animals. In addition, we compiled information on the body mass of animals and their degree of frugivory. We compared four standard network level metrics related to interaction diversity and specialization, accounting for differences related to sampling effort and network location. Furthermore, we tested whether animal traits (body mass, degree of frugivory) differed between continents, whether these traits were related to the network roles of species and whether these relation ships varied between continents. Results: We found significant structural differences in networks between continents. Overall, Neotropical networkswere less nested and more specialized tan Afrotropical networks. At the species level, a higher body mass and degree of frugivory were as sociated with an increasing diversity of plant partners. Specialization of frugivores increased with the degree of frugivory, but only in the Neotropics. Main conclusions: Our findings show that Afrotropical networks have a greater overlap in plant partners among vertebrate frugivores than the more diverse networks in the Neotropics that are characterized by a greater niche partitioning. Hence, the loss of frugivore species could have stronger impacts on ecosystem functioning in the more specialized Neotropical communities compared with the more generalized Afrotropical communities.