Collaborative Research: Effects of landscape structure on animal-mediated acorn dispersal and seedling recruitment in the Central Hardwoods

该项目的目标是更好地了解土地覆盖模式的变化和每年种子的可获得性如何影响蓝鸟和松鼠在中部硬树林生态区的橡子扩散。橡树是北美阔叶林最重要的组成部分之一，提供了一个很好的模式系统来解决与动物介导的种子在人类活动改变的景观中传播有关的问题。这项拟议的工作将研究森林的碎片化如何通过影响松鸦和松鼠的运动模式和栖息地来改变这一种子传播系统。PI将结合对松鸦和橡子的无线电跟踪研究，以及旨在测试缓存地点对种子萌发的影响的实验。中部硬木林地包括美国一些最具经济和生态生产力的硬木林地。然而，在过去的一个世纪里，灭火和景观破碎化改变了东部落叶乔木群落。尽管成熟栎树在森林冠层中仍然占主导地位，但各种因素已经在区域上抑制了橡树的繁殖。橡树影响着整个东部落叶林的能量、营养和疾病动态、食物网、水文学和生物多样性。它们还有助于支持印第安纳州和其他中西部州重要的木材相关产业。这项研究的结果将为深入了解景观破碎化对种子传播的影响，以及对保护和可持续发展具有关键影响的生态系统功能。

This goal of this project is to better understand how variation in land-cover patterns and annual seed availability influence acorn dispersal by blue jays and squirrels in the Central Hardwoods ecoregion. Oaks are one of the most important components of the hardwood forests of North America and provide an excellent model system to address questions relating to animal-mediated seed dispersal in landscapes that have been altered by human activities. The proposed work will examine how fragmentation of forests has altered this seed-dispersal system through effects on movement patterns and habitat associations of the jays and squirrels. The PIs will combine radio-tracking studies of both jays and acorns with experiments designed to test the effects of cache site on seed germination. The Central Hardwoods includes some of the most economically and ecologically productive hardwood timberland in the US. Over the past century, however, fire suppression and landscape fragmentation have altered eastern deciduous tree communities. Although mature oaks remain dominant in the forest canopy, various factors have suppressed oak reproduction regionally. Oaks influence energy, nutrient, and disease dynamics, food webs, hydrology, and biodiversity throughout the eastern deciduous forest. They also help to support important timber-related industries in Indiana and other mid-western states. Results from this study will provide insights into the consequences of landscape fragmentation for seed dispersal, and ecosystem function with critical implications for conservation and sustainability.