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

研究启动补助金：测量食果鸟类对废弃热带牧场种子传播、植物补充和土壤特性的影响。

• 批准号: 1028174
• 负责人: Tomas Carlo
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-05-01 至 2011-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1028174&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Starter; Grant; Measuring; effects

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.

该项目将研究食果鸟类将种子从热带森林转移到波多黎各的牧场生境的情况。种子传播对于森林物种的重建至关重要。这一地区的大多数木本森林植物依靠鸟类传播种子。增加对鸟类在栖息地之间的运动以及鸟类传播的种子的命运的了解，将提供对演替早期阶段的更机械的理解，并为保护和森林恢复工作提供信息。PI与波多黎各当地一个非政府保护组织之间的合作，以及PI向中小学科学教师和学生的推广，将产生更广泛的影响。