Dissertation Research: A Test of Metapopulation Incidence Function Parameters: Comparison of Predictions from Census Data and from Experimental Data

[901928] horvitz & beck - king本研究调查了在秘鲁亚马逊地区的Manu生物圈保护区，蝙蝠的种子传播和河流曲流演替对一种木材树Calophyllum brasiliense种群动态的影响。当河流蜿蜒时，山脊和洼地形成了一个新的开放土壤区域。空间结构景观可能有利于特定类型的种子传播系统。这项研究将结合实地数据和建模来调查蝙蝠作为传播媒介的作用：它们是通过距离（定植）还是通过种子沉积的特异性（定向传播）赋予优势？野外研究将调查：(1)江边生境类型的空间关系和新生境的创造速度；(2)不同生境类型样地巴西螺的招募需求、成活率、生长和繁殖率；(3)蝙蝠形成的种子沉积模式，包括直接观察和无线电遥测。蝙蝠给热带大种子树种带来的好处从未被彻底研究过，尽管许多大种子热带树木依靠蝙蝠传播种子。虽然河流曲流可能是整个亚马逊流域演替过程的主要原因，但由河流曲流驱动的热带雨林动态比树木落差动力学得到的研究要少得多。了解巴西杉木的扩散、繁殖和种群分布规律对其作为可持续木材资源的开发利用具有重要意义。

9901928Horvitz & Beck-KingThis study investigates the effects of seed dispersal by bats and river meander succession on the population dynamics of a timber tree, Calophyllum brasiliense, in the Manu Biosphere Reserve of Amazonian Peru. As a river meanders, a system of ridges and depressions develops that creates new open soil areas. A spatially structured landscape may favor a particular type of seed dispersal system. This study will combine field data and modeling to investigate the role of bats as dispersal agents: do they confer advantage by distance (colonization) or by the specificity of seed deposition (directed dispersal)? Field studies will investigate: (1) spatial relationships of habitat types and rate of new habitat creation by the river; (2) recruitment requirements, rates of survival, growth and reproduction of C. brasiliense, in study plots of differing habitat types; (3) seed deposition patterns created by bats, including direct observations and radio telemetry. The benefit that bats provide to large-seeded tropical tree species has never been thoroughly studied, even though many large-seeded tropical trees depend on bats to disperse their seeds. Tropical rainforest dynamics driven by river meanders have received much less study than tree-fall gap dynamics, although river meanders may be a predominant cause of successional processes throughout the Amazon basin. Understanding dispersal, recruitment and demography of C. brasiliense will have applications to its exploitation as a sustainable timber resource.