Plant-frugivore interactions as spatially explicit networks: integrating frugivore foraging with fruiting plant spatial patterns.

Abstract

In this chapter, an attempt to fit diffuse characteristics of frugivore-plant interactions into a framework that provides new ideas about frugivory and seed dispersal patterns, plant community associations and evolution. Specifically, it is proposed that frugivory and seed dispersal patterns should be examined in a spatially explicit manner that will help explain variability at the levels of both plant individuals and species. It is argued that the framework can shed light on fruiting plant community structure, diversity and evolution.