Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

ABSTRACTSynzoochory is the dispersal of seeds by seed ‐caching animals. The animal partner in this interaction plays a dual role, acting both as seed disperser and seed predator. We propose that this duality gives to synzoochory two distinctive features that have crucial ecological and evolutionary consequences. First, because plants attract animals that have not only positive (seed dispersal) but also negative (seed predation) impacts on their fitness, the evolution of adaptations to synzoochory is strongly constrained. Consequently, it is not easy to identify traits that define a synzoochorous dispersal syndrome. The absence of clear adaptati ons entails the extra difficulty of identifying synzoochorous plants by relying on dispersal traits, limiting our ability to explore the full geographic, taxonomic and phylogenetic extent of synzoochory. Second, the positive and negative outcomes of interactions with synzoochorous animals are expres sed simultaneously. Consequently, synzoochorous interactions are not exclusively mutualistic or antagonistic, but are located at some point along a mutualism–antagonism continuum. What makes synzoochory interesting and unique is that the position of each partner along the continuum can be evaluate d for every plant–animal interaction, and thus the continuum can be precisely described by assessing the relative frequency of positive and negative interaction events in each pairwise interaction. Herein we explore these two main features o...

Source: Biological Reviews - November 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Jos é María Gómez, Eugene W. Schupp, Pedro Jordano Tags: Original Article Source Type: research