Frugivory‐mediated trophic cascades: how apex predators can shape the recruitment of a fleshy‐fruited tree

The recovery of large carnivores offers unique opportunities to study their cascading impacts on plant population dynamics. Medium‐sized carnivores, both prey and seed dispersers, are suppressed by apex predators, indirectly increasing seed‐eating rodent's populations and potentially altering plant establishment. We investigated how natural variation in the presence of the Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus , a top predator in southern Spain, triggered cascading effects on the recruitment of the Iberian pear Pyrus bourgaeana through altered seed dispersal patterns by mesopredators and post‐dispersal seed predation by rodents. To assess whether and how the seed‐dispersal effectiveness of the Iberian pear was influenced by lynx presence across different habitats (open, forest) and microsites (shrub, rock and open), we conducted field experiments and observations spanning multiple life‐cycle stages of this fleshy‐fruited tree mainly dispersed by carnivorous mammals. Path analysis revealed that lynx presence decreased seed dispersal by 80% and biased it toward forests, where seedling survival was extremely low (1%). Most of the seeds were delivered in open microsites (61%), particularly in lynx absence by the red fox. Although we detected no direct effect of lynx presence on post‐dispersal seed predation, rodents removed 49 and 116% more seeds under shrubs than in rock and open interspaces, respectively, negatively affecting plant recruitment. Since shrubs provided the most favourable conditions for seedling survival, particularly in open habitats, these results expose a seed‐seedling conflict, whereby microsites with the highest seed predation are also those that maximize seedling establishment. This may limit the expansion potential of the Iberian pear and likely other fleshy‐fruited species given the current global rewilding context. Reintroduction programs of threatened carnivores should account for trophic cascades that may disrupt frugivory interactions and ultimately shape plant recruitment and establishment. This is especially relevant in defaunated ecosystems, where plant–animal mutualisms are often compromised.