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

脊椎动物在热带地区传播种子是一个关键的生态过程。然而，并不是所有吃水果的动物(果食性动物和杂食性动物)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多少种子，它如何处理口腔和肠道中的这些种子，以及它是否将种子传播到适合生存、萌发和建立的栖息地。因此，并不是所有的果食性动物或杂食性动物都能为植物提供同等的传播利益。通过这些过程，种子从母体植物扩散出去，萌发成幼苗，并成为成年植物，这一系列过程就是“种子传播周期”。这项研究考察了在玻利维亚稀树草原栖息地招募树种Guettarda viburnoides(茜草科)的种子传播周期后果。这项研究阐述了初级散播者、鸟类、簇鸟和几个巨嘴鸟物种的特定行为如何影响植物种群的增长和传播。这项研究将明确地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，本研究还确定了不同果食性鸟类生态行会成员可以在多大程度上替代生态功能。鉴于一个或多个分散体的衰落甚至灭绝，这项研究探讨了剩余物种是否会为植物提供同样的服务。这项研究将有助于建立研究合作，并加强圣安德烈斯大学市长和密苏里大学圣彼得堡分校之间的联系。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.