DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Closing the seed dispersal loop for Guettarda viburnoides: Connecting patterns of avian seed dispersal with population growth in a Neotropical savanna

热带地区脊椎动物的种子传播是一个关键的生态过程。 然而，并非所有吃水果的动物（食果动物和杂食动物）都是合适的种子传播者。 食果动物或杂食动物作为种子传播剂的有效性取决于它传播的种子数量、它如何在口腔和肠道中处理这些种子，以及它是否将种子传播到适合生存、发芽和定居的栖息地。因此，并非所有食果动物或杂食动物都能为植物提供同等的传播效益。这些过程的连续过程，通过这些过程，种子从亲本植物中传播开来，作为幼苗发芽，并成为成年植物，这就是“种子传播循环”。 本研究探讨了玻利维亚稀树草原栖息地中树种 Guettarda viburnoides（茜草科）的种子传播周期后果。 它探讨了初级传播者、鸟类、丛鸦和几种巨嘴鸟物种的具体行为如何影响植物种群的生长和传播。这项研究将明确研究种子传播对植物种群增长率和种群在空间传播速度的影响。此外，本研究还确定了食果鸟类生态行会的不同成员可以替代生态功能的程度。 鉴于一种或多种传播者的减少甚至灭绝，这项研究探讨了剩余物种是否能为植物提供相同的服务。 这项研究将有助于建立研究合作，并加强圣安德烈斯市长大学和密苏里大学圣路易斯分校之间的联系。路易斯.

Seed dispersal by vertebrates in the tropics is a key ecological process. However, not all animals that eat fruits (frugivores and omnivores) are appropriate seed dispersers. The effectiveness of a frugivore or omnivore as a seed dispersal agent depends on how many seeds it disperses, how it treats these seeds in the mouth and gut, and whether it disperses seeds to habitats suitable for survival, germination, and establishment. Therefore, not all frugivores or omnivores provide equal dispersal benefits to plants. The succession of these processes, by which seeds are dispersed away from the parent plant, germinate as seedlings, and become established as adult plants, is the "seed dispersal cycle." This study examines seed dispersal cycle consequences for recruitment of a tree species, Guettarda viburnoides (Rubiaceae) in savanna habitats of Bolivia. It addresses how specific behaviors by primary dispersers, birds, Tufted Jays and several toucan species, influence plant population growth and spread.This study will explicitly examine the effects of seed dispersal on plant population growth rates and the rate of population spread over space. Additionally, this study determines the degree to which ecological function can be substituted by different members of the frugivorous bird ecological guild. In light of the decline or even extinction of one or more dispersers, this study addresses whether the remaining species will fulfill the same services to the plant. This study will contribute to the establishment of research collaborations, and strengthen links between the Universidad Mayor de San Andres, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.