Artículos de revistas
Functional extinction of birds drives rapid evolutionary changes in seed size
Fecha
2013-05-31Registro en:
Science, v. 340, n. 6136, p. 1086-1090, 2013.
0036-8075
1095-9203
10.1126/science.1233774
WOS:000319664500042
2-s2.0-84878352309
3431375174670630
Autor
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
A. C. Red de Biología Evolutiva
Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA)
Universidade Federal Rural do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG)
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
CSIC
Institución
Resumen
Local extinctions have cascading effects on ecosystem functions, yet little is known about the potential for the rapid evolutionary change of species in human-modified scenarios. We show that the functional extinction of large-gape seed dispersers in the Brazilian Atlantic forest is associated with the consistent reduction of the seed size of a keystone palm species. Among 22 palm populations, areas deprived of large avian frugivores for several decades present smaller seeds than nondefaunated forests, with negative consequences for palm regeneration. Coalescence and phenotypic selection models indicate that seed size reduction most likely occurred within the past 100 years, associated with human-driven fragmentation. The fast-paced defaunation of large vertebrates is most likely causing unprecedented changes in the evolutionary trajectories and community composition of tropical forests.