Ecological function over evolutionary legacy: The limited role of shared evolutionary history in shaping modern frugivory interactions

Abstract Frugivory, encompassing interactions between vertebrates and plants that range from mutualistic to antagonistic, drives seed dispersal and underpins the structure and resilience of tropical ecosystems. However, the relative importance of shared evolutionary history versus present‐day functional traits in shaping these interactions remains unresolved. Here, we analyse frugivory networks involving bats, birds and primates across the Neotropics through a comprehensive framework that evaluates the interplay between evolutionary constraints and ecological sorting in mutualistic networks. Using the Procrustean Approach to Cophylogeny, we detect a weak but significant cophylogenetic signal, suggesting that evolutionary history leaves a detectable, though limited, imprint on network structure. In contrast, ecological and functional traits—particularly dietary specialization, network connectivity and fruit characteristics such as husk presence, type, colour and size—emerge as dominant drivers of interaction patterns. Species with similar ecological roles tend to cluster within modules, especially among primates and bats, reflecting strong trait‐mediated filtering rather than phylogenetic conservatism. Moreover, we document contrasting evolutionary patterns between interaction partners, as vertebrate traits exhibit strong phylogenetic signal, while fruit traits are more evolutionarily labile, indicating that plant traits may respond more rapidly to ecological pressures. These findings suggest that evolutionary legacy provides a scaffold for frugivory interactions, but contemporary ecological processes more strongly shape their assembly and modular structure. This asymmetry challenges assumptions about strict coevolutionary matching and highlights the flexibility of plant–animal interactions under ecological change. The framework offers a roadmap for disentangling drivers of interaction patterns in other mutualisms, with broad applications to community ecology, trait evolution, and conservation biology. Understanding how trait matching, often influenced by conserved traits, and shared evolutionary history interact to structure mutualistic networks is essential for predicting their resilience under global change, emphasizing the need to conserve not only species but also the interactions that sustain tropical biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.