DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Wildlife Poaching, Seed Dispersal, and the Functional Similarity of Mammalian Frugivores in Thailand

在热带森林偷猎野生动物的现象很普遍。一些被非法猎杀的动物为植物提供关键的种子传播服务，但我们对偷猎如何间接影响植物种群知之甚少。我的研究试图了解三种种子传播者-长臂猿、桑巴鹿和芒果鹿-对泰国森林中一种优势热带树木--南酸枣的种群持久性的相对重要性。在我的研究中，我问的是这三种分散剂是否提供了与腋毛隐翅虫同等质量的分散剂。如果是这样，那么这些分散物种中的一个种群数量的减少可能会被其余物种的活动所补偿。或者，如果这些物种提供的扩散服务的质量不同，那么其中一个物种的种群规模的减少可能会对树木的持久性产生不同的影响。了解偷猎对树木持久性的间接影响，对于确定野生动物收获等活动是否通过我们试图保护的各种系统产生分枝效应至关重要。这是第一批比较哺乳动物在不同栖息地传播种子的功能相似性的研究之一，将有助于我们理解种子传播的互惠关系及其对人为干扰的敏感性。这反过来将使我们能够设计保护战略，不是基于单一物种，而是基于保护生态上至关重要的物种相互作用。

Wildlife poaching in tropical forests is widespread. Some of the animals that are illegally hunted provide critical seed dispersal services to plants, yet we have little understanding of how poaching indirectly influences plant populations. My research seeks to understand the relative importance of three species of seed dispersers -gibbons, sambar deer, and muntjac deer- to the population persistence of a dominant tropical tree, Choerospondias axillaris, in forests in Thailand. In my research, I am asking whether the three species of dispersers provide equal quality dispersal to C. axillaris. If this is the case, then reductions in the population size of one of these disperser species might be compensated for by the activities of the remaining species. Alternatively, if these species differ in the quality of dispersal services they provide, then reductions in the population size of one of these species could differentially impact tree persistence. Understanding the indirect effects of poaching on tree persistence is critical to determining whether activities such as wildlife harvest have ramifying effects through diverse systems that we are trying to protect. This is one of the first studies to compare the functional similarity of mammals with respect to the dissemination of seeds across different habitats, and will help us understand the seed dispersal mutualism and its susceptibility to anthropogenic disruption. This in turn will allow us to design conservation strategies based, not on single-species, but on the preservation of ecologically-crucial species interactions.