Delayed recovery of seed-dispersal interactions after deforestation

Abstract

Interactions between plants and animals are crucial for natural forest recovery because most plants rely on seed dispersal by animals to recolonize degraded habitats. Despite this importance, the recovery time of seed-dispersal interactions after deforestation is unknown. We compared the recovery time of the functional diversity of seed-dispersal interactions, frugivorous animals and fleshy-fruited plants by recording trait and interaction data along a chronosequence of tropical forest recovery. Using a Bayesian model, we estimated that plant functional diversity was high shortly after deforestation, but animal functional diversity recovered only after 39 years, and seed-dispersal interactions after 18 years. We demonstrate that seed-dispersal interactions need about two decades to functionally recover which provides a new benchmark for the timing of restoration projects in tropical forests.