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The study of interspecific interactions helps scientists and conservationists understand the ability of species to coexist in a given area, improving the conservation and management of ecological communities. Here we present a case study where we tested whether spatial and temporal interactions of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), an ungulate native to Costa Rica, and horses (Equus caballus), a domestic ungulate reintroduced to a protected area, might result in avoidance. We used a paired field design with 40 camera traps deployed in two adjacent 228-ha fields within northwestern dry forest of Costa Rica during the wet season. We used general linear models to evaluate the effect of horse presence and vegetation type on white-tailed deer spatial distribution, as well as the Pianka's index to assess evidence of spatial overlapping. In addition, temporal overlap between horses and deer was assessed using the overlap coefficient, and the temporal response of white-tailed deer to horse presence was assessed using a spatially explicit null model approach. Evidence indicated that white-tailed deer used sites with horses more than sites without horses and used grass and shrubland sites more than forested sites. Within the area with horses, spatial overlap between horses and white-tailed deer was intermediate, suggesting insights of a moderate degree of spatial partitioning. Horses and white-tailed deer both showed similar activity patterns with a high degree of overlap, but our null model approach suggested neutral interaction; thus, our results indicated non-negative effects of horse presence on white-tailed deer spatiotemporal activity. Our results are limited by spatial and temporal replication, so caution is recommended when using this information to make decisions in other sites where horses and deer coexist. However, this effort provides relevant and novel information for our study area and can help decision makers to better manage ecological communities in

The study of plant-frugivore interactions is essential to understand the ecology and evolution of many plant communities. However, very little is known about how interactions among frugivores indirectly affect plant reproductive success. In this study, we examined direct interactions among vertebrate frugivores sharing the same fruit resources. Then, we inferred how the revealed direct interspecific interactions could lead to indirect (positive or negative) effects on reproductive success of fleshy fruited plants. To do so, we developed a new analytical approach that combines camera trap data (spatial location, visitor species, date and time, activity) and tailored null models that allowed us to infer spatial-temporal interactions (attraction, avoidance or indifference) between pairs of frugivore species. To illustrate our approach, we chose to study the system composed by the Mediterranean dwarf palm, Chamaerops humilis, the Iberian pear tree, Pyrus bourgaeana, and their shared functionally diverse assemblages of vertebrate frugivores in a Mediterranean area of SW Spain. We first assessed the extent to which different pairs of frugivore species tend to visit the same or different fruiting individual plants. Then, for pairs of species that used the same individual plants, we evaluated their spatial-temporal relationship. Our first step showed, for instance, that some prey frugivore species (e.g. lagomorphs) tend to avoid those C. humilis individuals that were most visited by their predators (e.g. red foxes). Also, the second step revealed temporal attraction between large wild and domestic frugivore ungulates (e.g. red deer, cows) and medium-sized frugivores (e.g. red foxes) suggesting that large mammals could facilitate the C. humilis and P. bourgaeana exploitation to other smaller frugivores by making fruits more easily accessible. Finally, our results allowed us to identify direct interaction pathways, that revealed how the mutualistic and antagonistic relations