OPUS: The role seed dispersal in forest ecosystem function: lessons from the oaks

这个项目的主要目标是写一本书，总结超过25年的研究橡子是如何分散的，为什么分散对北美东部和许多其他地方的森林再生很重要。 奇怪的是，传播橡子的动物（主要是啮齿动物和松鸦）也会通过食用橡子来破坏橡子。 这本书将展示这些动物是如何隐藏并经常忘记橡子的，让橡子发芽，橡树幼苗生根，森林生长。这本书将显示：（1）橡子之间的差异如何影响动物传播它们的地点和时间，（2）橡子传播如何有益于森林，（3）橡子作物大小的逐年差异如何影响传播过程，（4）橡子传播如何随森林类型而变化，以及（5）森林生态系统中顶级捕食者的活动如何从根本上改变橡子传播过程。这本书将重新评估种子传播的一些传统观点，并将证明来自各种科学学科的研究人员的帮助对于理解橡子是如何传播的以及为什么传播对橡树林的保护很重要是必要的。这本书将揭示种子和种子消费者之间的潜在关系的新见解。（种子捕食者和传播者）驱动森林生态系统中的许多生态过程（例如，森林结构，桅杆，种子特征的进化，甚至捕食者/猎物的相互作用），以及这些过程中有多少反馈到扩散过程中。因此，该项目将重新构建和重新评估种子传播及其对森林生态系统过程的影响的一些传统观点。这本书将支持和促进橡树林管理和保护的改善，特别是在气候变化的背景下。这本书也将有重要的影响，了解缺乏橡树再生，这是一个重大问题，在许多落叶林的美国和超越（西北加拿大，西班牙，葡萄牙和苏格兰）。此外，它将是有用的，在制定计划，重新引入美国板栗树到其原产地，和潜在的影响，入侵亚洲橡树物种，现在广泛分布在整个北美东部。 从教育角度来看，该项目将提供：（1）学生和研究人员对多学科方法理解复杂生态过程的重要性的新见解，（2）三个或三个以上对科学新闻感兴趣的本科生有机会协助研究，制作数字和编辑这本书，以及（3）将本书传播到参与NSF资助的生态研究教育网络倡议的初级本科院校网络，以及宾夕法尼亚州东北部的高中。

The main goal of this project is to write a book that summarizes more than 25 years of research about how acorns are dispersed and why dispersal is important for regeneration of forests in eastern North America and many other places. Curiously, the same animals that disperse acorns (mostly rodents and jays) also destroy them by eating them. The book will demonstrate how these animals hide and often forget about acorns, allowing the acorns to germinate, oak seedlings to take root, and forests to grow. The book will show: (1) how differences among acorns influence where and when animals disperse them, (2) how acorn dispersal benefits forests, (3) how year-to-year differences in the size of acorn crops influence the dispersal process, (4) how acorn dispersal varies with forest type, and (5) how the activity of top predators in a forest ecosystem can fundamentally alter the process of acorn dispersal. This project will re-evaluate some of the traditional views of seed dispersal and will demonstrate that help of researchers from a variety of scientific disciplines is necessary for understanding how acorns are dispersed and why dispersal is important for conservation of oak forests.The book will reveal new insights into how the underlying relationship between seeds and seed consumers (seed predators and dispersers) drive numerous ecological processes in forest ecosystems (e.g., forest structure, masting, the evolution of seed characteristics, and even predator/prey interactions), and how many of these processes feed back into the dispersal process. As such, this project will re-frame and re-evaluate some of the traditional views of seed dispersal and its influence on forest ecosystem processes. The book will support and promote improvements in oak forest management and conservation, especially in the context of climate change. The book will also have important implications for understanding the lack of oak regeneration, which is a significant problem in many deciduous forests of the U.S. and beyond (Northwest Canada, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland). Furthermore, it will be useful in developing plans for reintroduction of the American chestnut tree into its native range, and the potential impact of an invasive Asian oak species, now widespread throughout eastern North America. From an educational perspective, the project will provide: (1) new insights for students and researchers on the importance of multidisciplinary approaches for understanding complex ecological processes, (2) an opportunity for three or more undergraduates interested in scientific journalism to assist in the research, produce figures, and edit the book, and (3) dissemination of the book to a network of Primarily Undergraduate Institutions involved in the NSF-funded Ecological Research Educational Network initiative, as well as to high schools in northeastern Pennsylvania.