Large herbivore-palm interactions modulate the spatial structure of seedling communities and productivity in Neotropical forests

•Here we demonstrated that large mammalian herbivores play a fundamental role in plant consumption and trampling.•Because large herbivore activities are associated to palm fruit patches, we found that palm-herbivore association is an important component to understand forest productivity.•Defaunation and palm harvesting can lead to important changes in forest structure, biomass and diversity in tropical forests.