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

这个项目的目标是更好地了解土地覆盖模式和年度种子可用性的变化如何影响橡子传播的蓝鸟和松鼠在中央硬木生态区。橡树是北美阔叶林最重要的组成部分之一，并提供了一个很好的模式系统，以解决有关的问题，动物介导的种子传播景观已被人类活动改变。 拟议的工作将研究森林的破碎化如何通过对松鸦和松鼠的运动模式和栖息地协会的影响来改变这种种子传播系统。 研究人员将联合收割机结合无线电跟踪研究的松鸦和橡子与实验设计，以测试种子发芽的影响缓存网站。 中央硬木区包括美国最具经济效益和生态效益的硬木廷伯兰。 然而，在过去的世纪，灭火和景观破碎化改变了东部落叶树群落。虽然成熟的橡树在森林冠层中仍然占主导地位，但各种因素抑制了橡树的区域繁殖。橡树影响整个东部落叶林的能量、营养和疾病动态、食物网、水文和生物多样性。他们还帮助支持印第安纳州和其他中西部州的重要木材相关产业。这项研究的结果将提供深入了解景观破碎化种子传播的后果，生态系统功能的保护和可持续性的关键影响。

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.