OPUS: The role seed dispersal in forest ecosystem function: lessons from the oaks

这个项目的主要目标是写一本书，总结25年来关于橡子是如何分散的，以及为什么分散对北美东部和许多其他地方的森林再生很重要的研究。奇怪的是，那些驱散橡子的动物(主要是啮齿动物和松鸦)也会通过吃橡子来摧毁它们。这本书将展示这些动物是如何隐藏并经常忘记橡子的，让橡子发芽，橡树幼苗生根，森林生长。这本书将展示：(1)动物之间的差异如何影响动物在哪里以及何时驱散它们；(2)橡子传播如何造福森林；(3)橡子作物大小的年复一年差异如何影响传播过程；(4)橡子传播如何因森林类型而异；(5)森林生态系统中顶级捕食者的活动如何从根本上改变橡子传播的过程。这个项目将重新评估一些关于种子传播的传统观点，并将证明来自不同科学学科的研究人员的帮助对于了解橡子是如何传播的以及为什么传播对于保护橡树林是重要的。这本书将揭示种子和种子消费者(种子捕食者和传播者)之间的潜在关系如何驱动森林生态系统中的许多生态过程(例如，森林结构、母体、种子特征的演变，甚至捕食者/猎物的相互作用)，以及这些过程中有多少过程反馈到传播过程中。因此，该项目将重新构建和重新评估一些关于种子传播及其对森林生态系统进程的影响的传统观点。该书将支持和促进橡树林管理和保护方面的改进，特别是在气候变化的背景下。这本书还将对理解橡树再生不足的问题产生重要影响，这是美国和其他地区(加拿大西北部、西班牙、葡萄牙和苏格兰)许多落叶森林的一个重大问题。此外，这将有助于制定计划，将美国板栗树重新引入其原生范围，以及一种入侵的亚洲橡树物种的潜在影响，该物种目前广泛分布于北美东部。从教育的角度来看，该项目将提供：(1)为学生和研究人员提供关于多学科方法对于理解复杂生态过程的重要性的新见解；(2)为三名或更多对科学新闻感兴趣的本科生提供协助研究、制作数据和编辑该书的机会；以及(3)将该书传播给参与NSF资助的生态研究教育网络倡议的主要本科生机构网络，以及宾夕法尼亚州东北部的高中。

The main goal of this project is to write a book that summarizes more than 25 years of research about how acorns are dispersed and why dispersal is important for regeneration of forests in eastern North America and many other places. Curiously, the same animals that disperse acorns (mostly rodents and jays) also destroy them by eating them. The book will demonstrate how these animals hide and often forget about acorns, allowing the acorns to germinate, oak seedlings to take root, and forests to grow. The book will show: (1) how differences among acorns influence where and when animals disperse them, (2) how acorn dispersal benefits forests, (3) how year-to-year differences in the size of acorn crops influence the dispersal process, (4) how acorn dispersal varies with forest type, and (5) how the activity of top predators in a forest ecosystem can fundamentally alter the process of acorn dispersal. This project will re-evaluate some of the traditional views of seed dispersal and will demonstrate that help of researchers from a variety of scientific disciplines is necessary for understanding how acorns are dispersed and why dispersal is important for conservation of oak forests.The book will reveal new insights into how the underlying relationship between seeds and seed consumers (seed predators and dispersers) drive numerous ecological processes in forest ecosystems (e.g., forest structure, masting, the evolution of seed characteristics, and even predator/prey interactions), and how many of these processes feed back into the dispersal process. As such, this project will re-frame and re-evaluate some of the traditional views of seed dispersal and its influence on forest ecosystem processes. The book will support and promote improvements in oak forest management and conservation, especially in the context of climate change. The book will also have important implications for understanding the lack of oak regeneration, which is a significant problem in many deciduous forests of the U.S. and beyond (Northwest Canada, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland). Furthermore, it will be useful in developing plans for reintroduction of the American chestnut tree into its native range, and the potential impact of an invasive Asian oak species, now widespread throughout eastern North America. From an educational perspective, the project will provide: (1) new insights for students and researchers on the importance of multidisciplinary approaches for understanding complex ecological processes, (2) an opportunity for three or more undergraduates interested in scientific journalism to assist in the research, produce figures, and edit the book, and (3) dissemination of the book to a network of Primarily Undergraduate Institutions involved in the NSF-funded Ecological Research Educational Network initiative, as well as to high schools in northeastern Pennsylvania.