Seed dispersal interactions involve key ecological processes in tropical forests that help to maintain ecosystem functioning. Yet this functionality may be threatened by increasing habitat loss, defaunation, and fragmentation. However, generalist species, and their interactions, can benefit from the habitat change caused by human disturbance while more specialized interactions mostly disappear. Therefore, changes in the structure of the local, within fragment, networks can be expected. Here we investigated how the structure of seed dispersal networks changes along a gradient of increasing habitat fragmentation. We analyzed 16 bird seed dispersal assemblages from forest fragments of a biodiversity‐rich ecosystem. We found significant species–, interaction–, and network–area relationships, yet the later was determined by the number of species remaining in each community. The number of frugivorous bird and plant species, their interactions, and the number of links per species decreases as area is lost in the fragmented landscape. In contrast, network nestedness has a negative relationship with fragment area, suggesting an increasing generalization of the network structure in the gradient of fragmentation. Network specialization was not significantly affected by area, indicating that some network properties may be invariant to disturbance. Still, the local extinction of partner species, paralleled by a loss of interactions and specialist–specialist bird–plant seed dispersal associations, suggests the functional homogenization of the system as area is lost. Our study provides empirical evidence for network–area relationships driven by the presence/absence of remnant species and the interactions they perform.

中文翻译：

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热带森林碎片中的种子传播网络：面积效应，残留物种和相互作用多样性

种子传播相互作用涉及热带森林中的关键生态过程，有助于维持生态系统的功能。然而，这种功能可能会因栖息地丧失，毁损和破碎增加而受到威胁。但是，通才物种及其相互作用可以从人为干扰引起的栖息地变化中受益，而更多的专业相互作用则基本消失。因此，可以预期局部网络在片段内的结构变化。在这里，我们研究了种子传播网络的结构如何随着生境破碎化程度的增加而变化。我们分析了来自生物多样性丰富的生态系统的森林碎片中的16种鸟类种子传播组合。我们发现了重要的物种，相互作用和网络区域关系，然而，后者取决于每个群落中剩余的物种数量。食肉类鸟类和植物物种的数量，它们之间的相互作用以及每个物种的联系数量随着破碎景观中面积的减少而减少。相比之下，网络嵌套与片段区域具有负相关关系，这表明在片段化梯度中网络结构的泛化越来越多。网络专业化不受面积的显着影响，表明某些网络属性可能不受干扰的影响。尽管如此，伴侣物种的局部灭绝，以及相互作用的丧失和专家-专家鸟类-植物种子散布的联系，表明该系统的功能同质性随面积的减少而消失。