Therefore, it is necessary to clarify
how such fragmentation affects frugivorous birds and
seed dispersal by birds. In a plantation-dominant landscape,
we compared the abundance and species richness of
frugivorous birds, as well as the seed dispersals of five
bird-dispersed tree species with different fruiting phenologies
in both fragmented and well-preserved forests.
We expected that the fragmentation would restrict the
seed dispersal efficiency more intensively in the breeding
season than in the non-breeding season (i.e., migratory
season in temperate region) via a decrease in frugivorous
birds. Because food abundance strongly affects habitat
selection by animals (Burke and Nol 1998; Sherry et al.
2005), we also assessed the abundances of fruits and fruitproducing
tree species, both of which remain understudied
(but see Farwig et al. 2006).