Until recently, the production of fruits by plants, their consumption by animals (frugivory) and the relevance of these to seed dispersal have attracted less attention than topics such as pollination biology. However, since the 1970s they have started to gain more prominence and now give rise to more research funding, seminal papers and international symposiums. This book contains chapters adapted from the Third International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal held in August 2000 in Rio Quente, Brazil.

Table of Contents:
I: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives 1: Maintenance of tree diversity in tropical forests, J Terborgh, N Pitman, M Silman, H Schichter, and P Nunez V. 2: Dissemination limitation and the origin and maintenance of species-rich tropical forests, E W Schupp, T Milleron and S E Russo 3: Assessing recruitment limitation: Concepts, methods, and case studies from a tropical forest , H C Muller-Landau, et al 4: Have frugivores influenced the evolution of fruit traits in New Zealand? J M Lord, A S Markey and J Marshall 5: Mechanistic models for tree seed dispersal by wind in dense forests and open landscapes, R Nathan, H S Horn, J Chave, and S A Levin 6: The role of vertebrates in the diversification of new world mistletoes, C Restrepo, S Sargent, D J Levey, and D M Watson II: Plant Strategies 7: Mistletoes as parasites and seed-dispersing birds as disease vectors: current understanding, challenges, and opportunities, J E Aukema and C Martínez del Rio 8: Secondary metabolites of ripe fleshy fruits: ecology and phylogeny in the genus Solanum, M L Cipollini, et al 9: The seed dispersers and fruit syndromes of Myrtaceae in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, M A Pizo 10: Are plant species that need gaps for recruitment more attractive to seed-dispersing birds and ants than other species? C C Horvitz, et al 11: The role of fruit traits in determining fruit removal in east Mediterranean ecosystems, I Izhaki 12: Seed dispersal of mimetic fruits: parasitism, mutualism, or exaptation? M Galetti 13: Secondary dispersal of Jeffery pine seeds by rodent scatter hoarders: the roles of pilfering, recaching, and variable environment, S B VanderWall 14: The role of seed size in dispersal by a scatterhoarding rodent, P A Jansen, et al 15: Mast seeding and predator-mediated indirect interactions in a forest community: evidence from post- dispersal fate of rodent-generated caches, K Hoshizaki and P E Hulme III: Animal Strategies 14: Seasonality of fruiting and food hoarding by rodents in Neotropical forests: consequences for seed dispersal and seedling recruitment, P Forget, D S Hammond, T Milleron, and R Thomas 15: Seed eaters: seed dispersal, destruction, and demography, P E Hulme 16: Plant-animal co-evolution: Is it thwarted by spatial and temporal variation in animal foraging? C A Chapman and L J Chapman 17: The frugivorous diet of the maned wolf, Chrysocyon brachyurus in Brazil: ecology, and conservation, J C Motta jnr and K Martins IV: Consequences of Seed Dispersal 18: Frugivore-generated seed shadows: A landscape view of demographic and genetic effects, P Jordano and J A Godoy 19: Contributions of seed dispersal and demography to recruitment limitation in a Costa Rican cloud forest, K G Murray and J M Garcia-C 20: A meta-analysis of gut treatment on seed germination, A Traveset and M Verdú 21: Seed dispersal effectiveness by Cercopithecus monkeys: implications for seed input into degraded areas, B A Kaplin and J E Lambert 22: Exploring the link between animal frugivory and plant strategies: the case of primate fruit-processing and post-dispersal seed fate, J E Lambert V: Conservation, Biodiversity, and Management 23: Extinct pigeons and declining bat populations: Are large seeds still being dispersed in the tropical Pacific? K R McConkey and D R Drake 24: Potential consequences of extinction of frugivorous birds for shrubs of a tropical wet forest, B A Loiselle and J G Blake 25: Primate frugivory in two species-rich Neotropical Forests: implications for the demography of large-seeded plants in overhunted areas, C A Peres and M van Roosmalen 26: Patterns of fruit-frugivore interactions in two Atlantic Forest bird communities of southeastern Brazil: implications for conservation, W R Silva, P De Marco, É Hasui, and V S M Gomes 27: Limitations of animal seed dispersal for enhancing forest succession on degraded lands, R S Duncan and C A Chapman 28: Frugivory and seed dispersal in degraded tropical east Asian landscapes, R T Corlett 29: Behavioral and ecological considerations for managing bird damage to cultivated fruits, M L Avery 30: Harvest and management of forest fruits by humans: implications for fruit-frugivore interactions, S M Moegenburg