Fig. 1: Visual summary of the process for building a large-scale spatial network of plant-frugivore interactions.

In A we projected the occurrences of 22 bird species and 102 plant species over the two main islands of Aotearoa New Zealand, using empirical data from systematic surveys and a Joint Species Distribution Model (see Methods). In B we limited each species' potential range of partners using the set of recorded interactions between these species, i.e., the metaweb, from³³. In C we estimated dispersal kernels for bird species using their Hand-Wing Index as a proxy⁴². From these steps, we projected bird and plant species occurrences, added their known interactions from the metaweb, and connected populations within their dispersal kernel via bird dispersal in a grid of 3030 cells of 10 x 10 km. In D, two (simplified) adjacent cells are depicted. Each cell holds interactions between the locally present species (continous links), and potential bird dispersal to other cells where that species occurs (dashed links), depending on the dispersal capacities of the species present.