Subannual phenology and the effect of staggered fruit ripening on dispersal competition

Seed dispersal mutualisms evolve in complex communities of plants and frugivorous animals, within which indirect interactions such as competition and facilitation can occur. Many tropical plants reproduce subannually in multiple episodes per year. Yet, the consequences of episodic reproduction on interactions with seed dispersers remain largely unexplored. We studied Guarea guidonia (Meliaceae), a subannually reproducing tree, to examine temporal variation in seed dispersal within a tropical forested landscape in the central Dominican Republic. We hypothesized that foraging by dispersers would (a) increase with daily ripe fruit set on focal trees, (b) decrease with increasing ripe fruit biomass of neighboring plants, and (c) decrease in response to the fruiting periods of other taxa at the landscape scale. Over 18 months, we tracked the phenology of 24 focal trees and quantified foraging during fruiting phases through repeated observations, simultaneously measuring seed dispersal in traps beneath isolated bird perches across the study landscape. Date was the only clear predictor of frugivore visitation, with early and late peaks in activity during the 5‐month fruiting period. The midseason decline in foraging at focal trees matched a decline in Guarea dispersal to seed traps independently of fruit abundance. Declines in Guarea dispersal were inversely related to peak dispersal of higher quality lipid‐rich fruiting species. Our results suggest that multiple flowering episodes and subsequent asynchronous fruit ripening of low‐quality fruits can reduce competitive pressure from other higher quality fruiting species, implying that this potential bet‐hedging strategy may be an overlooked factor in the evolution of subannual reproduction. in Spanish is available with online material. Resumen La dispersión de semillas por animales frugívoros es una interacción ecológica mutualista que evoluciona en comunidades de animales y plantas complejas, que también se puede ver afectada por interacciones indirectas tales como la competencia y la facilitación. Muchas plantas tropicales se reproducen de manera subanual, con múltiples episodios de floración y fructificación durante el año. Sin embargo, las consecuencias que la reproducción en episodios subanuales tiene para las interacciones con los dispersores siguen sin estar comprendidas. Hemos usado como especie de estudio Guarea guidonia (Meliaceae), un árbol que se reproduce de manera subanual, para investigar la variaci