Defaunation Increases Clustering and Fine-Scale Spatial Genetic Structure in a Small-Seeded Palm Despite Remaining Small-Bodied Frugivores

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dc.citation.articleNumbere17620en_US
dc.citation.issueNumber2en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleMolecular Ecologyen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber34en_US
dc.contributor.authorLamperty, Thereseen_US
dc.contributor.authorDiaz-Martin, Zoeen_US
dc.contributor.authorSwamy, Varunen_US
dc.contributor.authorKarubian, Jordanen_US
dc.contributor.authorChoo, Juanitaen_US
dc.contributor.authorDunham, Amy E.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-09T20:16:57Zen_US
dc.date.available2025-01-09T20:16:57Zen_US
dc.date.issued2025en_US
dc.description.abstractAnthropogenic pressures such as hunting are increasingly driving the localised functional extinctions of large- and medium-sized wildlife in tropical forests, a phenomenon broadly termed ‘defaunation’. Concurrently in these areas, smaller-bodied species benefit from factors such as competitive release and increase in numbers. This transformation of the wildlife community can impact species interactions and ecosystem services such as seed dispersal and seed-mediated geneflow with far-reaching consequences. Evidence for negative genetic effects following defaunation is well-documented in large-seeded plants that require large frugivores for long-distance seed dispersal. However, how defaunation affects plants with small or medium-small seeds (< 1.5 cm), which tend to be consumed and dispersed by frugivorous mutualists of a range of body sizes and responses to anthropogenic threats, is not well understood. To better understand defaunation's impacts on tropical plant communities, we investigated spatial and genetic patterns in a hyperabundant medium-to-small-seeded palm, Euterpe precatoria in three sites with different defaunation levels. Results indicate that defaunation is associated with higher fine-scale spatial genetic structure among seedlings and increased spatial clustering within seedling cohorts and between seedlings and conspecific adults, as well as a reduction in nearest-neighbour distances between seedlings and conspecific adults. There were no clear effects on inbreeding or genetic diversity. However, we caution these trends may indicate that defaunation reduces seed dispersal services for species previously presumed to be robust to deleterious effects of losing large frugivores by virtue of having smaller seeds and broad suites of dispersal agents, and negative downstream effects on genetic diversity could occur.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLamperty, T., Diaz-Martin, Z., Swamy, V., Karubian, J., Choo, J., & Dunham, A. E. (2025). Defaunation Increases Clustering and Fine-Scale Spatial Genetic Structure in a Small-Seeded Palm Despite Remaining Small-Bodied Frugivores. Molecular Ecology, 34(2), e17620. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17620en_US
dc.identifier.digitalDefaunationIncreasesClusteringen_US
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17620en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/118100en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rightsExcept where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the terms of the license or beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/en_US
dc.subject.keywordAmazon rainforesten_US
dc.subject.keywordfrugivore declinesen_US
dc.subject.keywordhunting population geneticsen_US
dc.subject.keywordseed dispersalen_US
dc.titleDefaunation Increases Clustering and Fine-Scale Spatial Genetic Structure in a Small-Seeded Palm Despite Remaining Small-Bodied Frugivoresen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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