Departamento Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, and Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Biodiversidad (UMIB, CSIC-UO-PA), 33071 Oviedo, Spain.
Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Aug 7;279(1740):3106-13. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0175. Epub 2012 Mar 28.
The positive link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is a current paradigm in ecological science. However, little is known of how different attributes of species assemblages condition the quality of many services in real ecosystems affected by human impact. We explore the links between the attributes of a frugivore assemblage and the quantitative and qualitative components of its derived ecosystem service, seed dispersal, along a landscape-scale gradient of anthropogenic forest loss. Both the number and the richness of seeds being dispersed were positively related to frugivore abundance and richness. Seed dispersal quality, determined by the fine-scale spatial patterns of seed deposition, mostly depended on frugivore richness. In fact, richness was the only attribute of the frugivore assemblage affecting the probability of seed dispersal into deforested areas of the landscape. The positive relationships between frugivore richness per se (i.e. independent of frugivore abundance and composition) and all components of seed dispersal suggest the existence of functional complementarity and/or facilitation between frugivores. These links also point to the whole assemblage of frugivores as a conservation target, if we aim to preserve a complete seed dispersal service and, hence, the potential for vegetation regeneration and recovery, in human-impacted landscapes.
生物多样性与生态系统功能之间的正相关关系是当前生态学领域的一个范例。然而，人们对于物种组合的不同属性如何影响受人类影响的实际生态系统中许多服务的质量知之甚少。我们探讨了在人为森林损失的景观尺度梯度上，食果动物组合的属性与它所产生的生态系统服务（种子传播）的数量和质量成分之间的联系。被传播的种子数量和丰富度与食果动物的丰度和丰富度呈正相关。种子传播质量由种子沉积的精细空间模式决定，主要取决于食果动物的丰富度。事实上，丰富度是唯一影响种子传播到景观中森林砍伐区域的食果动物组合属性。食果动物丰富度本身（即独立于食果动物的丰度和组成）与种子传播所有成分之间的正相关关系表明，食果动物之间存在功能互补性和/或促进作用。这些联系还表明，如果我们旨在保护完整的种子传播服务，从而保护植被再生和恢复的潜力，那么整个食果动物组合就是保护的目标，在受人类影响的景观中。
