DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Wildlife Poaching, Seed Dispersal, and the Functional Similarity of Mammalian Frugivores in Thailand

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Wildlife poaching in tropical forests is widespread. Some of the animals that are illegally hunted provide critical seed dispersal services to plants, yet we have little understanding of how poaching indirectly influences plant populations. My research seeks to understand the relative importance of three species of seed dispersers -gibbons, sambar deer, and muntjac deer- to the population persistence of a dominant tropical tree, Choerospondias axillaris, in forests in Thailand. In my research, I am asking whether the three species of dispersers provide equal quality dispersal to C. axillaris. If this is the case, then reductions in the population size of one of these disperser species might be compensated for by the activities of the remaining species. Alternatively, if these species differ in the quality of dispersal services they provide, then reductions in the population size of one of these species could differentially impact tree persistence. Understanding the indirect effects of poaching on tree persistence is critical to determining whether activities such as wildlife harvest have ramifying effects through diverse systems that we are trying to protect. This is one of the first studies to compare the functional similarity of mammals with respect to the dissemination of seeds across different habitats, and will help us understand the seed dispersal mutualism and its susceptibility to anthropogenic disruption. This in turn will allow us to design conservation strategies based, not on single-species, but on the preservation of ecologically-crucial species interactions.