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Richard Hazell
Richard Hazell

Public Documents 1
Fruit traits reflect adaptation to dispersers along a tropical elevational gradient
Richard Hazell
Graham Kaina

Richard Hazell

and 7 more

September 04, 2025
Fruit traits have the potential to influence disperser communities and vice versa. Here we examine the trends in three fruit traits related to dispersal by frugivores: diameter, colour and presentation (i.e. location of displayed fruits on the trunk or on the branches) along a 200 – 2700 m asl rainforest elevation gradient in Papua New Guinea. We found fruit diameter to be lower at higher elevations. While specific fruit colours showed few strong elevational patterns, colours typically attributed to attracting avian dispersers were more prevalent at higher elevations. The proportion of ramiflorous species (bearing fruits from branches) increased with elevation. Finally, we use phylogenetic information to test the “dispersal syndromes” hypothesis: that combinations of fruit traits have evolved in accordance with the preferences and sensory abilities of different frugivore guilds. All fruit traits except presentation showed little evidence of phylogenetic signal but we found fruits displaying colours attributed to mammal frugivory to be larger than “bird colour” fruits. We found evidence for the correlated evolution of fruit size and colour, in support of the dispersal syndromes hypothesis.

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