U.S.-Mexico Cooperative Research: Patterns of Habitat Use by Birds in a Disturbed Landscape in Mexico

9722452布莱克这个美墨合作项目奖将支持密苏里大学圣路易斯分校的约翰·布莱克博士和凯瑟琳·格雷厄姆女士与墨西哥哈拉帕生态研究所的塞尔吉奥·格瓦拉博士进行研究合作。研究人员的目标是了解森林碎片化对食果鸟类栖息地选择和运动模式的影响。这一理解很重要，因为鸟类传播许多热带森林植物的种子。在这项研究中，研究人员将通过研究墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯的Los Tuxtlas地区以牧场为主的景观中三种常见栖息地类型的鸟类使用情况，来检验斑块水平(植被结构、水果丰富度)和景观水平因素(景观中的栖息地位置)对栖息地利用模式的相对影响。这项研究将有三个基本目标：1)确定不同栖息地类型的使用模式；2)开发一系列假说(矩阵模型)来预测鸟类的运动；3)通过与独立得出的运动模式数据集进行比较，验证和改进这些模型。哈拉帕生态研究所的墨西哥同行一直在研究孤立的无花果物种在促进洛斯塔斯特拉斯食果脊椎动物种子传播方面的作用。这项研究收集的数据将通过研究斑块和河岸走廊在食果鸟类栖息地选择和运动模式中的作用来补充这些合作者的工作。***

9722452 Blake This U.S.-Mexico Collaborative Program award will support Dr. John Blake and Ms. Catherine Graham of the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, in a research collaboration with Dr. Sergio Guevara, of the Institute of Ecology in Xalapa, Mexico. The researchers aim to understand the effects of forest fragmentation on patterns of habitat selection and movement by fruit-eating birds. This understanding is important because birds disseminate the seeds of many tropical forest plants. For this study, the researchers will examine the relative influence of patch-level (vegetation structure, fruit abundance) and landscape-level factors (habitat placement in the landscape) on patterns of habitat use by studying bird use of three common habitat types in a landscape dominated by pasture in the Los Tuxtlas region of Veracruz, Mexico. The research will have three basic objectives: 1) determination of use patterns of distinct habitat types; 2) development of a series of hypotheses (matrix models) to predict bird movement; and 3) validation and refinement of these models through comparison with an independently derived data set on movement patterns. The Mexican counterparts at the Institute of Ecology in Xalapa have been studying the role of isolated fig species in promoting seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates in Los Tuxtlas. Data collected in this study will complement the work of these collaborators by examining the roles of patches and riparian corridors in patterns of habitat selection and movement by fruit-eating birds. ***