Abstract:
Frugivory by ext~nct horses, gomphotheres, grouna sloths, and other
Pleistocene megafauna offers a key to understanding certain plant reproductive traits
in Central American lowland forests. When over 15 genera of Central American large
herbivores became extinct roughly 10,000 years ago, seed dispersal and subsequent
distributions of many plant species were altered. lntroductlon of horses and cattle may
have in part restored the local ranges of such trees as jlcaro (Crescentia alata) and
guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) that had large mammals as dispersal
agents. Plant distributions in neotropical forest and grassland mixes that are
moderately and patchily browsed by free-ranging livestock may be more like those
before megafaunal ext~nction than were those present at the time of Spanish
conquest.
