Seed dispersal by animals is one of the most important ecological processes in tropical forests, entailing millions of years of evolutionary adaptations of plants and frugivorous animals forming networks of interactions that, ultimately, contribute to the resilience of such forests. We analyze 29 seed dispersal networks in the threatened Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, with data on the frequency of feeding visits by birds to fruiting plants to answer: 1) which are the effects of forest cover and landscape connectivity on the maintenance of phylogenetic diversity (PD) of interacting birds and plants and the evolutionary distinctiveness of the interactions (EDi) between them; and 2) how EDi and plant/bird PD affects the robustness of the interaction networks? We found that forest cover positively influences both plant and bird PD and EDi. Landscape connectivity is an important predictor of bird PD, but not plant PD, suggesting that the spatial arrangement of forest remnants is essential for guaranteeing bird movement among forest fragments. Furthermore, interaction networks of areas with higher PD and EDi had great robustness to the simulated extinction of species, which underscore the importance of larger forest blocks for conserving evolutionary information and, consequently, the health and natural resistance of seed dispersal networks against environmental change.

中文翻译：

---

森林覆盖和连通性对维持种子传播网络中的进化独特相互作用具有普遍影响

动物传播种子是热带森林中最重要的生态过程之一，需要数百万年的植物和食果动物的进化适应形成相互作用网络，最终有助于这些森林的恢复力。我们分析了受威胁的大西洋森林生物多样性热点中的 29 个种子传播网络，并提供了鸟类对结果植物进行取食访问频率的数据，以回答：1）森林覆盖和景观连通性对维持系统发育多样性（PD）的影响）相互作用的鸟类和植物以及它们之间相互作用的进化独特性（EDi）；2) EDi 和植物/鸟类 PD 如何影响交互网络的稳健性？我们发现森林覆盖对植物和鸟类的 PD 和 EDi 都有积极影响。景观连通性是鸟类 PD 的一个重要预测指标，但不是植物 PD，这表明森林遗迹的空间排列对于保证鸟类在森林碎片之间的运动至关重要。此外，具有较高 PD 和 EDi 的区域的相互作用网络对模拟的物种灭绝具有很强的鲁棒性，这强调了更大的森林块对于保存进化信息的重要性，因此，种子传播网络对环境变化的健康和自然抵抗力。