Vitousek, P. Beyond global warming: ecology and global change. Ecology 75, 1861–1876 (1994).
Ribeiro, E. M. S. et al. Functional diversity and composition of Caatinga Woody flora are negatively impacted by chronic anthropogenic disturbance. J. Ecol. 107, 2291–2302 (2019).
Olden, J. D., Poff, N. L., Douglas, M. R., Douglas, M. E. & Fausch, K. D. Ecological and evolutionary consequences of biotic homogenization. 19, 18–24 (2004).
Lôbo, D., Leão, T., Melo, F. P. L., Santos, A. M. M. & Tabarelli, M. Forest fragmentation drives Atlantic forest of Northeastern Brazil to biotic homogenization. Divers. Distrib. 17, 287–296 (2011).
Martínez-Blancas, A., Paz, H., Salazar, G. A. & Martorell, C. Related plant species respond similarly to chronic anthropogenic disturbance: implications for conservation decision-making. J. Appl. Ecol. 55, 1860–1870 (2018).
Smart, S. M. et al. Biotic homogenization and changes in species diversity across human-modified ecosystems. Proc. R. Soc. B 273, 2659–2665 (2006).
Tabarelli, M., Peres, C. A. & Melo, F. P. L. The ‘few winners and many losers’ paradigm revisited: emerging prospects for tropical forest biodiversity. Biol. Conserv. 155, 136–140 (2012).
Cadotte, M. W., Carscadden, K. & Mirotchnick, N. Beyond species: functional diversity and the maintenance of ecological processes and services. J. Appl. Ecol. 48, 1079–1087 (2011).
Olden, J. D., Poff, N. L. & McKinney, M. L. Forecasting faunal and floral homogenization associated with human population geography in North America. Biol. Conserv. 127, 261–271 (2006).
Pessoa, M. S. et al. Deforestation drives functional diversity and fruit quality changes in a tropical tree assemblage. Perspect. Plant. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 28, 78–86 (2017).
Chave, J. et al. Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecol. Lett. 12, 351–366 (2009).
Osnas, J. L. D., Lichstein, J. W., Reich, P. B. & Pacala, S. W. Global leaf trait relationships: mass, area, and the leaf economics spectrum. Science 340, 741–744 (2013).
Nunes-Nesi, A. et al. Natural genetic variation for morphological and molecular determinants of plant growth and yield. J. Exp. Bot. 67, 2989–3001 (2016).
Sfair, J. C., De Bello, F., De Frana, T. Q., Baldauf, C. & Tabarelli, M. Chronic human disturbance affects plant trait distribution in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Environ. Res. Lett. 13 (2018).
Pessoa, M. S. et al. Fruit biomass availability along a forest cover gradient. Biotropica 49, 45–55 (2016).
Tabarelli, M., Aguiar, A. V., Girão, L. C., Peres, C. A. & Lopes, A. V. Effects of pioneer tree species hyperabundance on forest fragments in Northeastern Brazil. Conserv. Biol. 24, 1654–1663 (2010).
Magnago, L. F. S. et al. Functional attributes change but functional richness is unchanged after fragmentation of Brazilian Atlantic forests. J. Ecol. 102, 475–485 (2014).
Muñoz, M. C., Schaefer, H. M., Böhning-Gaese, K. & Schleuning, M. Importance of animal and plant traits for fruit removal and seedling recruitment in a tropical forest. Oikos 126, 823–832 (2017).
Galetti, M., Pizo, M. A. & Morellato, L. P. C. Diversity of functional traits of fleshy fruits in a species-rich Atlantic rain forest. Biota. Neotrop. 11, 181–193 (2011).
Albuquerque, U. P. et al. Humans as niche constructors: revisiting the concept of chronic anthropogenic disturbances in ecology. Perspect. Ecol. Conserv. 16, 1–11 (2018).
Zambrano, J. et al. The effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on plant functional traits and functional diversity: what do we know so far? Oecologia 191, 505–518 (2019).
Laliberté, E. et al. Land-use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities. Ecol. Lett. 13, 76–86 (2010).
Singh, S. P. Chronic disturbance, a principal cause of environmental degradation in developing countries. Envir Conserv. 25, 1–2 (1998).
Lamb, D., Erskine, P. D. & Parrotta, J. A. Restoration of degraded tropical forest landscapes. Science 310, 1628–1632 (2005).
Ribeiro-Neto, J. D., Arnan, X., Tabarelli, M. & Leal, I. R. Chronic anthropogenic disturbance causes homogenization of plant and ant communities in the Brazilian Caatinga. Biodivers. Conserv. 25, 943–956 (2016).
Arnan, X., Arcoverde, G. B., Pie, M. R., Ribeiro-Neto, J. D. & Leal, I. R. Increased anthropogenic disturbance and aridity reduce phylogenetic and functional diversity of ant communities in Caatinga dry forest. Sci. Total Environ. 631–632, 429–438 (2018).
Jara-Guerrero, A., González-Sánchez, D., Escudero, A. & Espinosa, C. I. Chronic disturbance in a tropical dry forest: disentangling direct and indirect pathways behind the loss of plant richness. Front. Forests Global Change. 4, 723985 (2021).
Jara-Guerrero, A., Maldonado-Riofrío, D., Espinosa, C. & Duncan, D. Beyond the blame game: a restoration pathway reconciles ecologists’ and local leaders’ divergent models of seasonally dry tropical forest degradation. Ecol. Soc. 24 (2019).
Khurana, E. & Singh, J. S. Ecology of tree seed and seedlings: implications for tropical forest conservation and restoration. Curr. Sci. 80, 748–757 (2001).
Lebrija-Trejos, E., Pérez-García, E. A., Meave, J. A., Poorter, L. & Bongers, F. Environmental changes during secondary succession in a tropical dry forest in Mexico. J. Trop. Ecol. 27, 477–489 (2011).
Maza-Villalobos, S., García-Ramírez, P., Endress, B. A. & Lopez-Toledo, L. Plant functional traits under cattle grazing and fallow age scenarios in a tropical dry forest of Northwestern Mexico. Basic Appl. Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2022.06.006 (2022).
Silva, J. L. S. et al. Divergent responses of plant reproductive strategies to chronic anthropogenic disturbance and aridity in the Caatinga dry forest. Sci. Total Environ. 704, 135240 (2020).
Balvanera, P., Quijas, S. & Pérez-Jiménez, A. Distribution patterns of tropical dry forest trees along a mesoscale water availability gradient. Biotropica 43, 414–422 (2011).
Espinosa, C. I., Cabrera, O., Luzuriaga, A. & Escudero, A. What factors affect diversity and species composition of endangered Tumbesian dry forests in Southern Ecuador? Biotropica 43, 15–22 (2011).
Cueva Ortiz, J. et al. Influence of anthropogenic factors on the diversity and structure of a dry forest in the central part of the Tumbesian region (Ecuador-Perú). Forests 10, 1–22 (2019).
Ribeiro, E. M. S., Arroyo-Rodríguez, V., Santos, B. A., Tabarelli, M. & Leal, I. R. Chronic anthropogenic disturbance drives the biological impoverishment of the Brazilian Caatinga vegetation. J. Appl. Ecol. 52, 611–620 (2015).
Schaefer, H. M., Levey, D. J., Schaefer, V. & Avery, M. L. The role of chromatic and achromatic signals for fruit detection by birds. Behav. Ecol. 17, 784–789 (2006).
Niinemets, Ü. Plant growth-form alters the relationship between foliar morphology and species shade-tolerance ranking in temperate Woody taxa. Vegetatio 124, 145–153 (1996).
Oliveira, F. M. P., Ribeiro-Neto, J. D., Andersen, A. N. & Leal, I. R. Chronic anthropogenic disturbance as a secondary driver of ant community structure: interactions with soil type in Brazilian Caatinga. Envir Conserv. 44, 115–123 (2017).
Weng, C. Y., Hsieh, C. & Su, M. H. Recruitment dynamics mediated by ungulate herbivory can affect species coexistence for tree seedling assemblages. TAIWANIA 62, 283–293 (2017).
Balvanera, P., Lott, E., Segura, G., Siebe, C. & Islas, A. Patterns of β-diversity in a Mexican tropical dry forest. J. Veg. Sci. 13, 145–158 (2002).
Lönnberg, K. & Eriksson, O. Rules of the seed size game: contests between large-seeded and small-seeded species. Oikos 122, 1080–1084 (2013).
Ramírez, N. & Briceño, H. Allometry and the distribution of fruit and seed traits across tropical plant species. Austral Ecol. 49, e13589 (2024).
Melo, D. H. A., Freitas, A. V. L., Tabarelli, M., Filgueiras, B. K. C. & Leal, I. R. Aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance as organizing forces of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages in a Caatinga dry forest. Biotropica 55, 173–184 (2023).
Shahabuddin, G. & Kumar, R. Influence of anthropogenic disturbance on bird communities in a tropical dry forest: role of vegetation structure. Anim. Conserv. 9, 404–413 (2006).
Cevallos-Solorzano, G. et al. Chronic Degradation of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests Increases the Incidence of Genotoxicity in Birds. GeoHealth 7, e2022GH000774 (2023).
Hilje, B., Calvo-Alvarado, J., Jiménez-Rodríguez, C. & Sánchez-Azofeifa, A. Tree species composition, breeding systems, and pollination and dispersal syndromes in three forest successional stages in a tropical dry forest in Mesoamerica. Trop. Conserv. Sci. 8, 76–94 (2015).
Espinosa, C. I., Reyes, C. & Jara-Guerrero, A. Las Cabras Como dispersores de semillas: aportes y limitaciones Para La Regeneración Del Bosque tropical Estacionalmente Seco de Ecuador. Rev. Biol. Trop. 69, 557–572 (2021).
Jara-Guerrero, A., De la Cruz, M. & Méndez, M. Seed dispersal spectrum of Woody species in South Ecuadorian dry forests: environmental correlates and the effect of considering species abundance. Biotropica 43, 722–730 (2011).
Jara-Guerrero, A., Espinosa, C. I., Méndez, M., De la Cruz, M. & Escudero, A. Dispersal syndrome influences the match between seed rain and soil seed bank of Woody species in a Neotropical dry forest. J. Veg. Sci. 31, 995–1005 (2020).
Lomáscolo, S. B. & Schaefer, H. M. Signal convergence in fruits: A result of selection by frugivores? J. Evol. Biol. 23, 614–624 (2010).
Wheelwright, N. T. & Janson, C. H. Colors of fruit displays of bird-dispersed plants. Am. Nat. 126, 777–799 (1985).
Willson, M. F. & Whelan, C. J. The evolution of fruit color in Fleshy-Fruited plants. Am. Nat. 136, 790–809 (1990).
Manchego, C. E. et al. Climate change versus deforestation: implications for tree species distribution in the dry forests of Southern Ecuador. PLoS ONE. 12, 1–19 (2017).
Morante-Filho, J. C., Arroyo-Rodríguez, V., Pessoa, M. S., Cazetta, E. & Faria, D. Direct and cascading effects of landscape structure on tropical forest and non-forest frugivorous birds. Ecol. Appl. 28, 2024–2032 (2018).
Valle, D., Griffith, D. M., Jara-Guerrero, A., Armijos-Ojeda, D. & Espinosa, C. I. A multifaceted approach to Understanding Bat community response to disturbance in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Sci. Rep. 11, 5667 (2021).
Almazán-Núñez, R. C., Arizmendi, M. D. C., Eguiarte, L. E. & Corcuera, P. Distribution of the community of frugivorous birds along a successional gradient in a tropical dry forest in south-western Mexico. J. Trop. Ecol. 31, 57–68 (2015).
Jara-Guerrero, A., Escribano-Avila, G., Espinosa, C. I., De la Cruz, M. & Méndez, M. White-tailed deer as the last megafauna dispersing seeds in Neotropical dry forests: the role of fruit and seed traits. Biotropica 50, 169–177 (2018).
Hautier, Y. et al. Local loss and Spatial homogenization of plant diversity reduce ecosystem multifunctionality. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2, 50–56 (2017).
Escribano-Avila, G. et al. Biodiversity patterns and ecological processes in Neotropical dry forest: the need to connect research and management for long-term conservation. Neotropical Biodivers. 3, 107–116 (2017).
Tirira, D. G., Burneo, S. F., Boada, C. E. & Lobos, S. E. Mammalia, Chiroptera, phyllostomidae, lonchophylla hesperia G. M. Allen, 1908: second record of the Western nectar Bat in Ecuador after 70 years. Check List. 7, 315 (2011).
Boada, C. & Roman, H. Evaluación ecológica rápida de la mastofauna en dos localidades de bosque seco en el occidente de la provincia de Loja. in Biodiversidad en los bosques secos de la zona de Cerro Negro-Cazaderos, occidente de la provincia de Loja: un reporte de las evaluaciones ecológicas y socioeconómicas rápidas (eds. Vázquez, M. A., Freire, J. F. & Suárez, L.) 73–90 (EcoCiencia, MAE y Proyecto Bosque Seco, Quito, 2005).
Ordóñez-Delgado, L. et al. New contributions to the knowledge of birds in Tumbesian region; conservation implications of the Dry Forest Biosphere Reserve, Zapotillo, Ecuador. Ecosistemas 25 (2016).
Gomes, V. G. N., Meiado, M. V., Quirino, Z. G. M. & Machado, I. C. Seed removal by lizards and effect of gut passage on germination in a columnar cactus of the Caatinga, a tropical dry forest in Brazil. J. Arid Environ. 135, 85–89 (2016).
Van Der Pijl, L. Principles of Dispersal in Higher Plants (Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 1969).
Martorell, C. & Peters, E. M. The measurement of chronic disturbance and its effects on the threatened cactus mammillaria pectinifera. Biol. Conserv. 124, 199–207 (2005).
Méndez-Toribio, M., Meave, J. A., Zermeño-Hernández, I. & Ibarra-Manríquez, G. Effects of slope aspect and topographic position on environmental variables, disturbance regime and tree community attributes in a seasonal tropical dry forest. J. Veg. Sci. 27, 1094–1103 (2016).
Oksanen, J. et al. vegan: community ecology package (2018).
Villéger, S., Mason, N. W. H. & Mouillot, D. New multidimensional functional diversity indices for a multifaceted framework in functional ecology. Ecology 89, 2290–2301 (2008).
Laliberté, E. & Legendre, P. A distance-based framework for measuring functional diversity from multiple traits. Ecology 91, 299–305 (2010).
Mason, N. W. H. & De Bello, F. Functional diversity: A tool for answering challenging ecological questions. J. Veg. Sci. 24, 777–780 (2013).
Pavoine, S., Blondel, J., Dufour, A. B., Gasc, A. & Bonsall, M. B. A new technique for analysing interacting factors affecting biodiversity patterns: crossed-DPCoA. PloS One. 8, e54530–e54530 (2013).
Swenson, N. G. Functional and Phylogenetic Ecology in R (Springer, 2014).
Kembel, S. et al. Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology. Bioinformatics 26, 1463–1464 (2010).
Gotelli, N. J. & McCabe, D. J. Species co-occurrence: A Meta-analysis of J.M. Diamomd´s assembly rules model. Ecology 83, 2091–2096 (2002).
Franklin, J. et al. Changing ecological communities along an elevation gradient in seasonally dry tropical forest on Hispaniola (Sierra Martín García, Dominican Republic). Biotropica 51, 802–816 (2019).
Gallardo-Cruz, J. A., Pérez-García, E. A. & Meave, J. A. β-Diversity and vegetation structure as influenced by slope aspect and altitude in a seasonally dry tropical landscape. Landscape Ecol. 24, 473–482 (2009).
R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2022).
