DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Interspecific Competition and Facilitation Among Avian-dispersed Plants

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

What we refer to as plant communities are composed of diverse plant species, many of which use animals, wind, and other vehicles to spread their seeds and ensure their survival. Seed dispersal-the spreading of seeds away from parents-is important in maintaining species diversity, and fruit-eating animals are key to the dispersal of many plant species' seeds. Often, within a plant neighborhood comprised of multiple individual plants, many plants share the same animals as seed-dispersers. The fact that different plant species are sharing the same species of animal to disperse their seeds may affect how much dispersal takes place for each plant individual. Neighboring fruiting plants of different species may help each other by attracting more seed-dispersing animals to their area, or they may hamper each other's seed-dispersal by competing for the animals. We will conduct experiments using three bird-dispersed plant species (Solanum americanum, Cestrum diurnum, and Rivina humilis) to examine how they affect each other's seed dispersal when occurring as neighbors. We will construct experimental neighborhoods of different combinations of the three plant species in open fields in Puerto Rico. First, we will evaluate the effects of neighboring plant species on how much fruit birds eat at each neighborhood type. Second, we will measure the number of dispersed seeds and their distance from the parent plant in each type of experimental neighborhood. This study will contribute to a better understanding of how plant species interact with each other and how some plant species may affect the abundance and distribution of other plant species.