Dynamics of Tropical Forest Seed Banks: Seed Predators as Determinants of Community Structure and Plant-Frugivore Coevolution

在热带森林中，大多数小型干扰 区域（例如，树落隙）是从休眠种子沉积， 在干扰发生前一段时间， 发生。 这样的种子会融入土壤， 发芽以回应后来的干扰。 这些“土壤种子” “银行”对这种“先驱”工厂产生了深远的影响， 他们所在的社区。 种类组成 再生斑块在很大程度上取决于 比如说，在受到干扰的时候，种子库会被破坏。 尽管如此，我们对地球上的 种子库，特别是种子被捕食者带走的速度， 病原体、生理上对寿命的限制等。 这项研究将利用精心复制的实验， 测量种子到达的速率，从凋落物到土壤的过渡， 为了了解土壤种子的动态， 银行详细 然后我将研究种子的后果 更新林群落结构的种群学研究 斑块，以及成熟物候的演变， 植物与传播者的关系 本项目收集的数据 是理解天然林再生的基础， 努力保护或恢复物种丰富的热带森林。

In tropical forests, most colonization of small disturbed areas (e.g., treefall gaps) is from dormant seeds deposited by animals in intact forest some time before the disturbance occurs. Such seeds become incorporated into the soil, and germinate in response to a later disturbance. These "soil seed banks" have profound consequences for such "pioneer" plants and the communities in which they occur. Species composition in regenerating patches is largely determined by the composition of the seed bank at the time of disturbance, for example. Nevertheless, virtually nothing is known about the dynamics of seed banks, especially rates of seed removal by predators and pathogens, physiologically-imposed limits to longevity, etc.. This study will make use of carefully replicated experiments to measure rates of seed arrival, transition from litter to soil, and removal in order to understand the dynamics of soil seed banks in detail. I will then examine the consequences of seed demography for community structure in regenerating forest patches, as well as for the evolution of ripening phenologies and plant-disperser relationships. The data gathered in this project is basic to understanding natural forest regeneration , and to efforts to preserve or restore species-rich tropical forests.