Study on Plant-frugivore Network in the Coastal Region of Dafeng, Jiangsu

Birds play a vital role in renewing plant populations and maintaining biodiversity through their foraging on plant fruits. In this study, bird diversity data were collected from November 2022 to February 2023 in forest habitats in the coastal area of Dafeng, Jiangsu Province. A bird foraging network was constructed to analyze the correlation of the network structure with bird and plant characteristics. This study identified 44 forest bird species across seven orders and 22 families in the coastal area of Dafeng during the autumn and winter seasons. The plant-frugivore network, consisting of 15 bird and seven plant species, exhibited low connectance and low specialization. The results suggest a significant correlation between the number of birds and species degree, species strength, and partner diversity. However, no correlation was observed between network structure and bird morphological traits. Correlation analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between the degree of species, the number of plants, and fruit yield. Furthermore, the number of plants was positively correlated with partner diversity. However, plant height showed a significant negative correlation with specialization. This study shows that the structure of the plant-frugivore network during autumn and winter in the coastal region of Dafeng is comparatively simple. The size of the bird population and plant traits were identified as fundamental factors influencing the structure of the network.