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重要的生态过程。然而，并不是所有吃水果的动物（食果动物和杂食动物）都是合适的种子传播者。果食动物或杂食动物作为种子传播剂的有效性取决于它传播了多少种子，它如何在口腔和肠道中对待这些种子，以及它是否将种子传播到适合生存、发芽和建立的栖息地。因此，并不是所有的食果动物或杂食动物对植物的传播都有同样的好处。种子从亲本植物中传播出去，长成幼苗，然后长成成虫，这一系列的过程就是“种子传播循环”。本研究探讨了玻利维亚热带稀树草原上一种名为Guettarda viburnoides （Rubiaceae）的树种的种子传播循环对其招募的影响。它解决了主要传播者，鸟类，丛鸦和几种巨嘴鸟的特定行为如何影响植物种群的生长和传播。本研究将明确考察种子传播对植物种群生长率和种群空间扩散率的影响。此外，本研究还确定了食鸟生态协会不同成员的生态功能可以替代的程度。鉴于一种或多种散布者的减少甚至灭绝，本研究解决了剩余物种是否会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安德烈斯分校之间的联系。路易。

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.