DOI: 10.5061/dryad.28m55
title: Data from: Anthropogenic disturbance of tropical forests threatens pollination services to açaí palm in the Amazon river delta

description: The açaí palm Euterpe oleracea Mart. in the Amazon river delta has seen
 rapid expansion to meet increased demand for its fruit. This has been
 achieved by transforming lowland forest habitats (floodplains) into
 simplified agroforests and intensive plantation in upland areas. As açaí
 palm makes an important contribution to the economy and food security of
 local communities, identifying management approaches that support
 biodiversity and ecosystem processes that underpin fruit production on
 açaí farms is essential. We compared flower-visitor communities and açaí
 fruit production in floodplain forests and upland plantations, across
 gradients of local management intensity (i.e. açaí density per ha) and
 surrounding forest cover. The relative contribution of biotic pollination
 and degree of pollen limitation were assessed using insect exclusion and
 hand-pollination experiments. We found that açaí flower visitors are
 highly diverse (c. 200 distinct taxa) and had variable responses to
 disturbance. Bee visitation was higher in floodplains and positively
 related to surrounding forest cover, but other flower visitors, including
 specialised curculionid beetles, were unresponsive to changes in
 surrounding forest cover. However, intensive management practices (i.e.
 high açaí palm densities) in floodplains and uplands had contrasting
 effects on flower-visitor communities, with flower-visitor richness being
 lower on intensively managed floodplain farms and ant densities being
 higher on intensive upland farms. Pollination experiments revealed açaí
 palm to be highly dependent on biotic pollination. Fruit set in
 open-pollinated inflorescences was positively related to flower-visitor
 richness and specialised curculionid beetle visitation, whereas the
 presence of ants on inflorescences had a negative effect. Synthesis and
 applications. Our study shows that pollinators are essential for açaí
 fruit production, but that intensive farming practices have eroded the
 relationship between surrounding forest cover and ecosystem function in
 floodplains (i.e. conversion of native forest into simplified agroforests)
 and increased the frequency of antagonistic interactions in uplands (e.g.
 high ant densities). These findings underline the value of extensive
 management practices, such as the maintenance of other tree species within
 farms and adjacent unmanaged forest patches, to ensure the long-term
 sustainability of açaí fruit production in the Amazon river delta.
description: Acai flower-visitor
 surveysDataset for repeat
 observations of flower-visiting insect activity on acai palm (Euterpe
 oleracea) in the Amazon river delta. A total of 322 observations (10
 minutes visual survey + 10 minutes for species collection. Data from
 observations and collections were combined - thus, where an insect was
 collected but not observed a value of 0.1 was attributed. Data was
 analysed using generalised mixed effects models and presented in Table 1,
 Table 2, and Figure 3 in the main manuscript (see README.txt for more
 details).acai_flower_vis.csvAcai flower-visitor richness (sum data)Dataset used to test effects of anthropogenic disturbance on pollinator richness and similarity (Jaccard's index). Data calculated from sum data (all surveys per site, n = 18) and presented in table 2 and figure 3 in main text (see README.txt for more details).acai_pollinator_richness.csvAcai fruit production dataFruit set on marked inflorescences - including data from pollinator-excluded, open and hand-pollinated inflorescences (see README.txt for more details)acai_fruitset.csv