The importance of species interactions: impacts of animal-mediated seed dispersal on tropical tree demography and evolution

热带雨林是地球上生物多样性最丰富的生态系统，但人类正在迅速改变和破坏热带雨林。了解动植物在这些森林中的分布情况是了解这些生态系统的结构、功能和多样性的基础，最终将使我们能够做出明智的、以科学为基础的保护决策。生物体的扩散改变了当地的物种丰富度和物种分布--这是定义生态学领域的两个研究方面。对于大多数植物物种来说，个体的运动取决于与种子散布动物和捕食种子动物的相互作用的结果。这种复杂的动植物相互作用决定了生物多样性的大规模模式和生态系统的基本特征。尽管对扩散的研究至关重要，但我们对其生态学和进化的理解仍然存在严重的差距。 我实验室的研究试图了解热带亚洲树木种子由动物介导的传播和捕食的生态学和进化。与动物的相互作用被认为是这些生境中的树种的关键，但我们仍然很少了解种子的传播和捕食如何影响不同树种的丰富度和进化。我们知识中的这些差距也使我们无法预测气候变化和过度狩猎等大规模人类压力因素如何影响热带雨林。我的研究项目评估了植物物种在过度捕杀种子的动物灭绝的情况下坚持下来的能力，或者为了应对全球变暖而改变它们的分布的能力，这两个关键威胁对热带动物、树木和热带雨林群落的影响仍然知之甚少。此外，我的实验室还在研究种子传播和捕食相互作用的中断对进化的影响。了解不同树种的进化是否以及如何受到人类驱动的动物干扰的影响，将使我们更好地了解当前人类活动的长期影响。

Tropical rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth, yet are being rapidly altered and destroyed by humans. Understanding the dispersal of plants and animals within these forests is fundamental to understanding the structure, functioning, and diversity of these ecosystems, and will ultimately allow us to make informed, scientifically-based conservation decisions. Dispersal of organisms changes local abundance and alters species distributions -the two facets of study that define the very field of ecology. For vast numbers of plant species, movement of individuals is dependent on the outcome of interactions with both seed-dispersing and seed-predating animals. This complex interplay of animal-plant interactions determines large-scale patterns of biodiversity and fundamental traits of ecosystems. Despite the central importance of the study of dispersal, critical gaps remain in our understanding of its ecology and evolution. Research in my lab seeks to understand the ecology and evolution of animal-mediated dispersal and predation of tree seeds in tropical Asia. Interactions with animals are thought to be critical for tree species in these habitats, yet we still have very little understanding of how seed dispersal and predation affect the abundance and evolution of different tree species. These gaps in our knowledge also prevent us from being able to predict how large-scale human stressors such as climate change and over-hunting affect tropical rainforests. My research program assesses the ability of plant species to persist in the face of extirpation of their seed-dispersing animals from over-hunting, or to shift their distribution in response to global warming, two critical threats whose impacts on tropical animals, trees, and rainforest communities are still very poorly understood. Furthermore, my lab is also studying the evolutionary impacts of the disruption of seed dispersal and predation interactions. Understanding whether and how the evolution of different tree species will be affected by human-driven disruptions of animals will allow us to better understand the long-term implications of current human activities.