Fruiting phenology is a critical aspect of plant fitness, as it is directly linked to the next-generation offspring delivery. Both abiotic and biotic factors presumably exert natural selection on plant phenology. Despite the role of climate in shaping fruiting phenology is well established, whether frugivores exert phenotypic selection on fruiting phenology has not yet been tested. We estimated the regime and magnitude of frugivore-mediated selection on fruiting phenology in three distant (> 500 km) populations of the Blue Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) along one year. We measured phenological fruit traits (fruiting onset, fruiting peak, length of the fruiting season) and fruit crop size, and used animal fruit removal as a fitness component. We found highly variable fruiting phenologies between populations, yet phenological stages in lower latitudes were longer than in higher latitudes. One population showed a positive relationship between fruiting onset and fruiting peak among individuals, indicating that fruiting later in the season delayed the fruiting peak. Frugivores favored large fruit crop sizes in the three populations and early fruiting onsets in two populations. In two populations, frugivores selected favorable combinations of fruit crop size and fruiting peak (favoring plants with large crops and early fruiting peaks), as well as favorable combinations of fruiting peak and the length of the fruiting season (favoring plants with early fruiting peaks and extended fruiting seasons). Some degree of similarity in selection patterns among populations suggests that, despite strong geographic variation in climate and animal assemblage composition, some level of functional redundancy occurs in terms of phenotypic trait selection. Overall, our results show that fruiting phenology may be a highly variable life-history trait of plant populations, and support the idea that biotic interactors, conditional on heritable traits and selection pressures sustained over time, could potentially shape phenological fruiting characteristics.

结果物候是植物健康的一个关键方面，因为它与下一代后代的交付直接相关。非生物和生物因素都可能对植物物候学施加自然选择。尽管气候在形成结果物候中的作用已经得到很好地确立，但食果动物是否对结果物候施加表型选择尚未得到测试。我们估计了三个遥远（> 500 公里）蓝色西番莲（Passiflora caerulea) 一年。我们测量了水果物候性状（结果期、结果高峰、结果期长度）和水果作物大小，并使用动物果实去除作为适应性成分。我们发现种群之间的结果物候变化很大，但低纬度地区的物候阶段比高纬度地区长。一个群体在个体之间表现出结果开始和结果高峰之间的正相关，表明在本季较晚的结果延迟了结果高峰。食果者喜欢这三个种群的大果作物和两个种群的早果期。在两个种群中，食果动物选择了果实作物大小和结果高峰的有利组合（喜欢大作物和早结果高峰的植物），以及结果高峰和结果季节长度的有利组合（有利于早结果高峰和延长结果季节的植物）。种群之间选择模式的某种程度的相似性表明，尽管气候和动物组合组成的地理差异很大，但在表型性状选择方面会出现一定程度的功能冗余。总体而言，我们的结果表明，结果物候可能是植物种群的高度可变的生活史特征，并支持以下观点：以遗传性状和随时间持续的选择压力为条件的生物相互作用因子可能会影响物候结果特征。种群之间选择模式的某种程度的相似性表明，尽管气候和动物组合组成的地理差异很大，但在表型性状选择方面会出现一定程度的功能冗余。总体而言，我们的结果表明，结果物候可能是植物种群的高度可变的生活史特征，并支持以下观点：以遗传性状和随时间持续的选择压力为条件的生物相互作用因子可能会影响物候结果特征。种群之间选择模式的某种程度的相似性表明，尽管气候和动物组合组成的地理差异很大，但在表型性状选择方面会出现一定程度的功能冗余。总体而言，我们的结果表明，结果物候可能是植物种群的高度可变的生活史特征，并支持以下观点：以遗传性状和随时间持续的选择压力为条件的生物相互作用因子可能会影响物候结果特征。