Primate seed dispersal: Coevolution and conservation implications

Early studies of primates have demonstrated that many species rely heavily on fruit, and that primates constitute a large component of the frugivore biomass in tropical forests. Consequently, primates have long been thought to be important seed dispersers. It is only recently that studies have been conducted that have illustrated the complex nature of the interactions between fruit‐eating primates and their food trees. Such studies have raised questions as to the causes and conse‐quences of the intriguing differences between primate communities, the importance of other animals in the interactions (such as dung beetles and rodents that secon‐darily disperse seeds), how primate‐plant interactions evolve, and the significance of primates in forest regeneration and conservation. Since subsistence and com‐mercial hunting of primates has heavily impacted frugivore communities, but left the physical structure of the forest relatively unaltered, studies of primate seed dispersal have important implications for the future of forests where seed dispersers have declined or disappeared.