DOI: 10.5061/dryad.02v6wwq6n
title: Data and code from: Reciprocity and interaction effectiveness in generalised mutualisms among free-living species

description: Mutualistic interactions among free-living species generally involve
 low-frequency interactions and highly asymmetric dependence among
 partners, yet our understanding of factors behind their emergence is still
 limited. Using individual-based interactions of a super-generalist
 fleshy-fruited plant with its frugivore assemblage, we estimated the
 Resource Provisioning Effectiveness (RPE) and Seed Dispersal Effectiveness
 (SDE) to assess the balance in the exchange of resources. Plants were
 highly dependent on a few frugivore species, while frugivores interacted
 with most individual plants, resulting in strong asymmetries of mutual
 dependence. Interaction effectiveness was mainly driven by interaction
 frequency. Despite highly asymmetric dependences, the strong reliance on
 quantity of fruit consumed determined high reciprocity in rewards between
 partners (i.e., higher energy provided by the plant, more seedlings
 recruited), which was not obscured by minor variations in the quality of
 animal or plant service. We anticipate reciprocity will emerge in
 low-intimacy mutualisms where the mutualistic outcome largely relies upon
 interaction frequency.
description: Dataset has been collected in the field, within Doñana National
 Park (Huelva, Spain) at two<em> Pistacia lentiscus</em>
 populations: La Macha del Rabicano at El Puntal site and Laguna de las
 Madroñas in Doñana's core Reserve. Data gathering
 has involved different methodologies, see Supplementary Material of the
 associated paper for all the information. Below we provide a short
 summary: - Frugivore animal-plant interactions come
 from DNA-barcoding analysis on collected bird sampled beneath individual
 <em>Pistacia lentiscus</em> plants (file:
 bc_indiv_lentisc.csv) and monitoring cameras recording individual
 <em>P. lenticus </em>plants (file: cam_indiv_lentisc.csv). We
 also extracted fruit feeding rates for different bird species using the
 monitoring camera's videos (file: lentisc_feeding_rates.csv). For
 seed predators, we also measured the number of fruits escaping predation
 (i.e. failure during handling; file: seed_predators_escape.csv)
 - Microhabitat conditions were measured using the following
 methodology 
 Microhabitat bird species' use - DNA-barcoding analysis on
 collected bird samples at each microhabitat (file:
 mh_combined_barcoding.csv) Microhabitat
 post-dispersal seed predation - seed offering experiments at each
 microhabitat (file: seed_predation.csv) Microhbaitat
 seed emergence and seedling recruitment - seed sowing experiments at each
 microhabitat (file: seedling_emergence.csv) 
 - Individual plant attributes - plant area was measured using a
 drone flight (dron_areas.csv), plants' initial crop was measured
 through fruit counts and we also measured fruit and seed weight at
 variable number of fruits (fruit_characteristics.csv).
description: Datasets are provided in .cvs and .rds format. See METADATA.csv
 for the explanation of all variables. All analyses are
 in Rmd and can be run in R. See makefile.R with all the code available and
 the chronological order in which it was run.
   Also see our GitHub repository for the
 manuscript: https://github.com/PJordano-Lab/MS_effectiveness