Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, 715 Sumter St., Columbia, SC 29208, U.S.A.
Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia & Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista 'Julio de Mesquita Filho', Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2015 Nov;90(4):1263-78. doi: 10.1111/brv.12153. Epub 2015 Jan 19.
Frugivorous fish play a prominent role in seed dispersal and reproductive dynamics of plant communities in riparian and floodplain habitats of tropical regions worldwide. In Neotropical wetlands, many plant species have fleshy fruits and synchronize their fruiting with the flood season, when fruit-eating fish forage in forest and savannahs for periods of up to 7 months. We conducted a comprehensive analysis to examine the evolutionary origin of fish-fruit interactions, describe fruit traits associated with seed dispersal and seed predation, and assess the influence of fish size on the effectiveness of seed dispersal by fish (ichthyochory). To date, 62 studies have documented 566 species of fruits and seeds from 82 plant families in the diets of 69 Neotropical fish species. Fish interactions with flowering plants are likely to be as old as 70 million years in the Neotropics, pre-dating most modern bird-fruit and mammal-fruit interactions, and contributing to long-distance seed dispersal and possibly the radiation of early angiosperms. Ichthyochory occurs across the angiosperm phylogeny, and is more frequent among advanced eudicots. Numerous fish species are capable of dispersing small seeds, but only a limited number of species can disperse large seeds. The size of dispersed seeds and the probability of seed dispersal both increase with fish size. Large-bodied species are the most effective seed dispersal agents and remain the primary target of fishing activities in the Neotropics. Thus, conservation efforts should focus on these species to ensure continuity of plant recruitment dynamics and maintenance of plant diversity in riparian and floodplain ecosystems.
在世界各地的热带地区的河岸和洪泛区生境中，食果鱼在植物群落的种子传播和繁殖动态中起着重要作用。在新热带湿地，许多植物物种具有肉质果实，并与果实期同步，此时食果鱼会在森林和草原觅食长达 7 个月。我们进行了全面分析，以研究鱼类与果实相互作用的进化起源，描述与种子传播和种子捕食相关的果实特征，并评估鱼类大小对鱼类（鱼传播）有效传播种子的影响。迄今为止，有 62 项研究记录了 82 个植物科的 566 种果实和种子，这些果实和种子来自 69 种新热带鱼类的饮食中。鱼类与开花植物的相互作用可能在新热带地区已有 7000 万年的历史，早于大多数现代鸟类与果实和哺乳动物与果实的相互作用，并有助于远距离种子传播，可能促进了早期被子植物的辐射。鱼传播发生在整个被子植物进化枝中，在高等真双子叶植物中更为频繁。许多鱼类能够传播小种子，但只有少数物种能够传播大种子。分散种子的大小和种子传播的概率都随鱼类大小而增加。大体型物种是最有效的种子传播剂，并且仍然是新热带地区捕鱼活动的主要目标。因此，保护工作应侧重于这些物种，以确保植物繁殖动态的连续性，并维持河岸和洪泛区生态系统中的植物多样性。
