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中央阔叶林生态区土地覆盖模式和年度种子可得性的变化如何影响蓝松鸦和松鼠的橡子传播。橡树是北美阔叶林最重要的组成部分之一，为解决人类活动改变的景观中动物介导的种子传播问题提供了一个很好的模型系统。拟议的工作将研究森林破碎化如何通过影响松鸦和松鼠的运动模式和栖息地关联来改变这种种子传播系统。pi将把对松鸦和橡子的无线电跟踪研究与旨在测试贮藏地点对种子发芽的影响的实验结合起来。中央阔叶林包括一些最具经济和生态生产力的阔叶林林地在美国。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。尽管成熟栎树在林冠层中仍占主导地位，但各种因素在区域上抑制了栎树的繁殖。橡树影响着整个东部落叶森林的能量、营养和疾病动态、食物网、水文和生物多样性。它们还有助于支持印第安纳州和其他中西部各州重要的木材相关产业。我们的研究结果将对景观破碎化对种子传播和生态系统功能的影响提供见解，对保护和可持续性具有重要意义。

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. Our results will provide insights into the consequences of landscape fragmentation for seed dispersal, and ecosystem function with critical implications for conservation and sustainability.