Closing the seed dispersal loop: quantitatively linking plant-frugivore interactions to the recruitment cycle of plant communities

将食果动物的活动与后来的补充定量联系起来的能力是理解种子传播过程和植物种群的关键，特别是考虑到森林退化等环境影响因素。然而，由于种子传播和补充过程的级联非常复杂，迄今为止基本上不可能建立这种联系。拟议的项目旨在填补这一空白，在数量上将植物-食果动物的相互作用与森林退化情况下相关植物种群的补充联系起来。为了实现这一目标，我们将使用一种新的分子技术，确定种子传播者的身份从粪便材料封闭分散的种子。我们将结合联合收割机这种方法与经典的矩阵人口模型的基础上的实证评估的肉质水果植物群落在该领域。这将使我们能够跟踪食果动物活动的影响，在登录和古老的森林植物群落的招聘。我们的研究系统是波兰东部的比亚洛维萨原始森林（BPF），欧洲低地的最后一个原始森林生态系统。这片森林提供了一个独特的参照点，因为自上一个冰河时代以来，物种群落和生态过程几乎没有间断地演变。该项目建立在我们以前关于BPF中食果动物和植物群落之间相互作用的研究的综合数据集的基础上，这些研究表明，与原始森林相比，在采伐的植物-食果动物相互作用中，相互作用和合作伙伴的损失显着。通过评估传播者通过招聘的影响，我们的项目将允许独特的见解种子传播物种的损失在退化的森林栖息地的植物群落的种群动态的后果。

The ability to quantitatively link frugivore activity to later recruitment is the key to the understanding of seed dispersal processes and plant demography, especially in view of environmental impact factors such as forest degradation. However, owing to the high complexity of the cascade of seed dispersal and recruitment processes, establishing this link has so far largely been impossible. The proposed project aims at filling this gap by quantitatively linking plant-frugivore interactions to recruitment of associated plant populations in the light of forest degradation. To achieve this, we will use a novel molecular technique that determines the identity of seed dispersers from fecal material enclosing dispersed seeds. We will combine this approach with classic matrix population models based on empirical assessments of a fleshy-fruiting plant community in the field. This will allow us to track the impact of frugivore activity on recruitment of a plant community in logged and old-growth forest. Our study system is the Bialowieza Primeval Forest (BPF) in Eastern Poland, the last pristine forest ecosystem of the European lowland. The forest provides a unique reference site, as species communities and ecological processes have evolved nearly uninterrupted since the last ice age. The project builds on comprehensive datasets from our previous studies on interactions among frugivore and plant communities in BPF, which show a significant loss of interactions and partners in plant-frugivore interactions in logged compared to old-growth forest. By assessing the impact of dispersers through recruitment, our project will allow for unique insights into the consequences of the loss of seed disperser species in degraded forest habitats for population dynamics in plant communities.