U.S.-Chile Collaboration Plant/Animal Mutualisms in Fragmented Forests; Effects on Forest Function and Implications for Habitat Restoration

这项美国-智利奖将支持阿拉斯加州朱诺太平洋西北研究站的玛丽·威尔逊与智利圣地亚哥智利大学的j·j·阿梅斯托和m·k·阿罗约-赫尔利之间的研究合作。合作者打算量化森林破碎化对共生动物及其共生植物繁殖的影响，并研究栖地对受干扰地点肉果植物繁殖率的影响。在许多陆生群落中，植物和动物之间的互惠相互作用构成了一套主要的生态过程，尽管对它们的研究远远少于竞争、捕食、寄生和食草。由于它们的作用是积极的，这些相互关系的持续运作对维持生态系统和群落功能至关重要。拟议的工作将包括实地鸟类普查、学生培训和建立一个殖民化实验。这些研究将证明在北美太平洋地区的北温带雨林进行类似的研究是有用的，那里的群落和相互作用可能组织不同。

This U.S.-Chile award will support research collaboration between Mary Willson of the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Juneau, Alaska and J. J. Armesto and M. K. Arroyo-Hurley of the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, Chile. The collaborators intend to quantify the effects of forest fragmentation on mutualistic animals and on the reproduction of their plant mutualists, and to examine the effect of perches on rates of recruitment of fleshy-fruited plants on disturbed sites. Mutualistic interactions between plants and animals comprise a set of major ecological processes in many terrestrial communities, although they are much less studied than competition, predation, parasitism, and herbivory. Because their effects are positive, the continued operation of these mutualisms is critical to maintenance of ecosystems and community function. The proposed work will involve a field census of birds, student training, and setting up a colonization experiment. These studies will prove useful in carrying our similar studies in the north- temperate rain forests from the Pacific part of North America, where communities and interactions may be organized differently.