Data and code for: Past and future extinctions shape the body size - fruit size relationship between palms and mammalian frugivores

The dispersal of seeds by mammalian frugivores influences the structure and composition of plant communities, but most ecosystems have undergone defaunation over thousands of years, a process that continues today. Understanding how past defaunation has affected fruit-frugivore interactions will thus provide insights into how ecosystems may respond to future frugivore loss. By integrating palm and mammalian frugivore trait and occurrence data worldwide, we reveal a global positive relationship between fruit size and body size of frugivore assemblages. Global variation in fruit size is better explained by present-day frugivore assemblages compared to those of the Late Pleistocene (including extinct species), suggesting a substantial ecological and evolutionary reorganization after Pleistocene mammal extinctions.