Collaborative Research: Seed Dispersal by Wind and Plant Recruitment in Tropical Forests; An Interdisciplinary Investigation Across Multiple Scales

合作研究：热带森林中的风传播种子和植物补充-跨多个尺度的跨学科研究罗尼·阿维塞尔杜克大学该项目开发和测试风传播种子的模型，并应用这些模型来研究热带森林中种子传播的重要性。 种子传播是一个重要的生态学过程，但生态学家对种子传播模式及其对植物群落的影响却知之甚少。 这项研究建立在大气建模和遗传技术的最新进展的基础上，使用具有成功合作历史的跨学科团队开发，测试和应用下一代风传播种子的大气模型。 这里开发的机械种子传播模型将是第一个将空间异质性和复杂地形的影响，并将涵盖前所未有的空间和时间尺度范围。 该研究地点位于巴拿马的巴罗科罗拉多岛，提供了一个独特的组合，其中包括一组高度多样化的风分散植物物种和广泛的相关长期和大规模数据集。结合起来，这使得有可能进行前所未有的调查种子传播的重要性，包括检查其重要性，确定个别物种的丰度和其对物种多样性的维护的贡献。 作为这项研究的一部分开发的模型将广泛适用于世界各地的风传播物种，并将构成一个重要的新工具，为保护和管理。这些模型将是有用的，例如，预测外来物种的入侵率，对气候变化引起的范围转移的反应，以及栖息地破碎化的影响。 所有结果，包括这些模型，将公开提供。

Collaborative Research: Seed dispersal by wind and plant recruitment in tropical forests - an interdisciplinary investigation across multiple scales Roni AvissarDuke UniversityThis project develops and tests models of seed dispersal by wind and applies those models to investigate the importance of seed dispersal in tropical forests. Seed dispersal is recognized as a very important ecological process, and yet ecologists still know very little about seed dispersal patterns and their particular influences in plant communities. This research builds on recent advances in atmospheric modeling and genetic techniques, using an interdisciplinary team with a history of successful collaboration to develop, test and apply the next generation of atmospheric models of seed dispersal by wind. The mechanistic seed dispersal models developed here will be the first to incorporate the effects of spatial heterogeneity and complex topography, and will cover an unprecedented range of spatial and temporal scales. The study site, Barro Colorado Island in Panama, offers a unique combination of a highly diverse group of wind-dispersed plant species and extensive relevant long-term and large-scale datasets. In combination, this makes possible an unprecedented investigation of the importance of seed dispersal, including examination of its importance in determining individual species abundances and of its contribution to the maintenance of species diversity. The models developed as part of this research will be broadly applicable to wind-dispersed species worldwide, and will constitute an important new tool for conservation and management. These models will be useful, for example, for predicting invasion rates of exotic species, responses to range shifts due to climate change, and the effects of habitat fragmentation. All results, including these models, will be made publicly available.