Collaborative Research: Seed Dispersal by Wind and Plant Recruitment in Tropical Forests; An Interdisciplinary Investigation Across Multiple Scales

合作研究：通过风传播种子和热带森林中的植物招募-一项跨多个尺度的跨学科调查罗尼·阿维萨尔杜克大学这个项目开发并测试了风传播种子的模型，并应用这些模型来调查热带森林中种子传播的重要性。种子传播是一个非常重要的生态学过程，但生态学家对种子传播模式及其在植物群落中的特殊影响知之甚少。这项研究建立在大气建模和遗传技术最新进展的基础上，利用一个有成功合作历史的跨学科团队开发、测试和应用下一代通过风传播种子的大气模型。这里开发的机械种子传播模型将首次纳入空间异质性和复杂地形的影响，并将覆盖前所未有的空间和时间尺度范围。研究地点位于巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛，提供了一组高度多样化的分散在风中的植物物种和广泛的相关长期和大规模数据集的独特组合。总而言之，这使得有可能对种子传播的重要性进行一次前所未有的调查，包括审查其在确定单个物种丰富度方面的重要性及其对维持物种多样性的贡献。作为这项研究的一部分开发的模型将广泛适用于世界各地的风分散物种，并将成为保护和管理的重要新工具。例如，这些模型将有助于预测外来物种的入侵率，对气候变化引起的范围变化的反应，以及栖息地碎片化的影响。所有结果，包括这些模型，都将公之于众。

Collaborative Research: Seed dispersal by wind and plant recruitment in tropical forests - an interdisciplinary investigation across multiple scales Roni AvissarDuke UniversityThis project develops and tests models of seed dispersal by wind and applies those models to investigate the importance of seed dispersal in tropical forests. Seed dispersal is recognized as a very important ecological process, and yet ecologists still know very little about seed dispersal patterns and their particular influences in plant communities. This research builds on recent advances in atmospheric modeling and genetic techniques, using an interdisciplinary team with a history of successful collaboration to develop, test and apply the next generation of atmospheric models of seed dispersal by wind. The mechanistic seed dispersal models developed here will be the first to incorporate the effects of spatial heterogeneity and complex topography, and will cover an unprecedented range of spatial and temporal scales. The study site, Barro Colorado Island in Panama, offers a unique combination of a highly diverse group of wind-dispersed plant species and extensive relevant long-term and large-scale datasets. In combination, this makes possible an unprecedented investigation of the importance of seed dispersal, including examination of its importance in determining individual species abundances and of its contribution to the maintenance of species diversity. The models developed as part of this research will be broadly applicable to wind-dispersed species worldwide, and will constitute an important new tool for conservation and management. These models will be useful, for example, for predicting invasion rates of exotic species, responses to range shifts due to climate change, and the effects of habitat fragmentation. All results, including these models, will be made publicly available.