The role of fruit traits in determining fruit removal in East Mediterranean ecosystems

This paper presents a case study, at the interspecific level, on the relationship between fruit traits and fruit removal in eastern mediterranean scrublands in Beit Jimal, Israel. The aim of the study was to determine which plant and fruit traits govern fruit removal success within a plant community (interspecific level) and among individuals within a population. The vegetation is Mediterranean evergreen scrub, dominated by Quercus calliprinos and Pistacia palaestina. Fruit wet mass, number of seeds per fruit and seed wet mass accounted for 85.0% of the total variation in the morphological traits of the fleshy fruits. There was no significant correlation detected between any morphological fruit traits and fruit removal efficiency. Absolute removal was negatively correlated with fruit wet mass and a similar correlation trend was observed in a removal success. There was also no significant correlation between removal efficiency, absolute fruit removal and fruit removal success and the loadings on the first two morphological axes. Fruit-removal efficiency was primarily dependent on fruit nutritional traits, whereas absolute removal and removal success were primarily dependent on crop size, plant abundance and fruit energy.