Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Larval infestation of fruits dispersed by vertebrates may effect rates of fruit removal through preferential consumption by dispersers or by their avoidance of infested fruits. I tested whether the presence of insect larvae in ripened fruits of Acnistus arborescens increases or decreases the rate of fruit removal by vertebrate dispersers. I placed paired artificial infructescences on a study site at Monteverde, Costa Rica. Fruit removal from mixed infructescences containing both infested and uninfested fruits was compared to removal from control containing only uninfested fruits
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Lisa K. Valburg (1992) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: