The importance of species interactions: impacts of animal-mediated seed dispersal on tropical tree demography and evolution

热带雨林是地球上生物多样性最丰富的生态系统，但人类正在迅速改变和破坏热带雨林。了解动植物在这些森林中的分布情况是了解这些生态系统的结构、功能和多样性的基础，最终将使我们能够做出明智的、以科学为基础的保护决策。生物体的扩散改变了当地的物种丰富度和物种分布--这是定义生态学领域的两个研究方面。对于大多数植物物种来说，个体的运动取决于与种子散布动物和捕食种子动物的相互作用的结果。这种复杂的动植物相互作用决定了生物多样性的大规模模式和生态系统的基本特征。尽管对扩散的研究至关重要，但我们对其生态学和进化的理解仍然存在严重的差距。

Tropical rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth, yet are being rapidly altered and destroyed by humans. Understanding the dispersal of plants and animals within these forests is fundamental to understanding the structure, functioning, and diversity of these ecosystems, and will ultimately allow us to make informed, scientifically-based conservation decisions. Dispersal of organisms changes local abundance and alters species distributions -the two facets of study that define the very field of ecology. For vast numbers of plant species, movement of individuals is dependent on the outcome of interactions with both seed-dispersing and seed-predating animals. This complex interplay of animal-plant interactions determines large-scale patterns of biodiversity and fundamental traits of ecosystems. Despite the central importance of the study of dispersal, critical gaps remain in our understanding of its ecology and evolution.