Predicting the consequences of disperser extinction: richness matters the most when abundance is low

Summary The ongoing biodiversity crisis entails the concomitant loss of species and the ecological services they provide. Global defaunation, and particularly the loss of frugivores, may negatively affect the seed dispersal of fleshy‐fruited plant species, with predictable stronger impacts in simplified communities such as those on oceanic islands. However, logistical difficulties have hindered the experimental and theoretical need to...