Summary 1.Seed dispersal by frugivores is the basis for regeneration of fleshy-fruited plants in forest ecosystems. Previous studies have reported a decrease in forest specialist frugivores due to logging and forest edges. Forest generalists appear less sensitive and may even increase at forest edges. Such changes in the abundance of frugivores may have consequences for consumer/resource ratios and competition in plant-frugivore networks. 2. Optimal foraging theory predicts an increase in dietary specialization of animals at low consumer/ resource ratios due to reduced competition. A decrease in forest specialists in logged forests should cause decreased consumer/resource ratios, increased dietary specialization and reduced redundancy, whereas an increased abundance of forest generalists at edges may compensate for a loss of specialists. 3. In Europe's last old-growth lowland forest (Białowie_ za, Eastern Poland), we recorded fruit removal by frugivores from fleshy-fruited plant species in the interior and at edges of logged and old-growth forests for 2 consecutive years. 4. The abundance of forest generalists increased at forest edges, whereas specialists were unaffected. Conversely, logging resulted in a decrease in abundance of forest specialists but had no effect on the abundance of generalists. Accordingly, consumer/resource ratios increased from interior to edges and were reduced in the interior of logged forests compared with the interior of old-growth forests. As predicted by optimal foraging theory, a decrease in consumer/resource ratios coincided with increased dietary specialization and a loss of redundancy in the interior of logged forests. Despite low dietary specialization, redundancy was reduced at forest edges as forest generalists dominated plant-frugivore interactions. 5. Synthesis. We show that a shift in frugivore assemblages at forest edges and increased dietary specialization of frugivores in the interior of logged forests involved a loss of redundancy compared with continuous old-growth forests. This suggests that seed dispersal services in secondary forest habitats depend on an impoverished subset of dispersal vectors and may suffer reduced adaptive potential to changing environmental conditions. Thus, our study highlights the value of old-growth forests for the conservation of frugivore-mediated seed dispersal processes.

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Summary1. Co-occurring and simultaneously fruiting plant species may either compete for dispersal by shared frugivores or enhance each other's dispersal through joint attraction of frugivores. While competitive plant-plant interactions are expected to cause the evolutionary divergence of fruit phenologies, facilitative interactions are assumed to promote their convergence. To which extent competitive and facilitative interactions among plant species with similar phenological niches are controlled by spatial variation in their local abundance and co-occurrence is poorly understood. 2. Here, we test the hypotheses that when a plant species fruits in high densities, large phenological overlap with other plant species causes competition for seed dispersers owing to frugivore satiation. Conversely, we expect large phenological overlap to enhance the dispersal of a plant species fruiting in low densities through attraction of frugivores by other species in its local neighbourhood. 3. We test these predictions on plant-frugivore networks based on seed removal from 15 woody, fleshy-fruited plant species by 30 avian and 4 mammalian frugivore species across 13 study sites in Białowie_ za Forest, Poland. 4. A null model indicated that fruit phenologies of the regional plant assemblage were more differentiated than expected by chance. In the local networks, the tendency of plants to share frugivores increased with phenological overlap. High phenological overlap reduced the seed removal rates, interaction strength (proportion of interactions) and the number of partners of plant species fruiting in high densities. Conversely, plant species fruiting in low densities mainly profited from high phenological overlap with other species. Importantly, the sharing of mutualistic partners among cofruiting plant species was also reflected in their co-occurrence. 5. Synthesis. Our study highlights that, in spite of the overall signal of competition, frugivore-mediated interactions among cofruiting plant species may consistently promote the establishment and persistence of rare species through facilitation. In addition, our results suggest that, among other factors, indirect coupling of species through shared mutualistic partners might be an important determinant of plant community assembly. The coupling through shared mutualists may cause the formation of associations among co-dispersed plant species and might contribute to the coexistence of species in plant-animal mutualistic communities.

Networks of species interactions promote biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services. These networks have traditionally been studied in isolation, but species are commonly involved in multiple, diverse types of interaction. Therefore, whether different types of species interaction networks coupled through shared species show idiosyncratic or correlated responses to habitat degradation is unresolved. Here we study the collective response of coupled mutualistic networks of plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers to the degradation of Europe's last relict of old-growth lowland forest (Białowieża, Poland). We show that logging of old-growth forests has correlated effects on the number of partners and interactions of plants in both mutualisms, and that these effects are mediated by shifts in plant densities on logged sites. These results suggest bottom-up-controlled effects of habitat degradation on plant-animal mutualistic networks, and predict that the conversion of primary old-growth forests to secondary habitats may cause a parallel loss of multiple animal-mediated ecosystem services.

Fruiting trees in degraded areas are attractive for frugivorous birds and may become centers of regeneration. However, a number of tree species in degraded areas are exotic species. Thus, the question arises whether these exotic species can also act as foci for forest regeneration. In the farmland adjacent to Kakamega Forest, Kenya, we investigated the frugivore assemblage in, and seed rain and seedling establishment under, 29 fruiting exotic guava trees (Psidium guajava) at different distances to the forest. The results show that 40 frugivorous bird species visited guava trees. All of the seed and 82 percent of the seedling species found under the treecrowns were animal dispersed, 58 and 57 percent of them late‐successional species, respectively. Path analysis revealed that the abundance of frugivorous birds, seeds, and seedlings did not decrease up to a distance of 2 km from the forest. Surprisingly, the abundance of frugivorous shrubland birds, animal‐dispersed seeds, and late‐successional seeds showed an increase with increasing distance from forest. Even though they are exotics, fruiting guava trees may have a positive effect on forest regeneration and might prove valuable for management plans concerning forest restoration.