Research Starter Grant: Measuring the effects of frugivorous birds on seed dispersal, plant recruitment, and soil properties in abandoned tropical pastures.

该项目将研究食果鸟类的种子从热带森林到波多黎各牧场栖息地的移动。种子传播是重建森林物种的关键。这一地区的大多数木本森林植物依靠鸟类来散播种子。更多地了解鸟类在栖息地之间的活动和鸟类散布的种子的命运，将提供对演替早期阶段的更机械的了解，并为养护和森林恢复工作提供信息。其他更广泛的影响将来自国际和平协会与波多黎各当地一个非政府保护组织的合作，以及国际和平协会与中小学科学教师和学生的接触。

This project will examine the movement of seeds, by fruit-eating birds, from tropical forest to pasture habitats in Puerto Rico. Seed dispersal is critical for the reestablishment of forest species. A large majority of woody forest plants in this area rely on birds to disperse their seeds. Increased understanding of bird movement between habitats and the fate of seeds that birds disperse will provide a more mechanistic understanding of the early stages of succession and inform conservation and forest restoration efforts. Additional broader impacts will result from collaboration between the PI and a local non-governmental conservation organization in Puerto Rico, and from outreach by the PI to elementary and middle school science teachers and students.