Functional trait mediation of plant-animal interactions : effects of defaunation on plant functional diversity in a neotropical forest
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation examines how terrestrial vertebrates, as seed dispersers, seed predators and herbivores, influence plant functional trait composition in tropical forests and thereby diversity. I conducted this work in the Barro Colorado National Monument (BCNM) in Central Panama, where a long term mammal exclosure experiment has been ongoing, and in neighboring Parque Nacional Soberanía, which together with the BCNM forms a defaunation gradient driven by hunting. Seedling communities showed shifts toward higher seed mass in response to exclosure, but no changes in leaf traits or wood density. In contrast, the sapling community did show significant shifts toward higher specific leaf area and lower leaf toughness in response to herbivore exclosure, primarily due to an increased dominance of species with those traits, and secondarily due to differences in the species present in each treatment type. Finally, I tested a model of the seed size responses to changes in mammal abundance by measuring vertebrate seed predation rates in a protected and hunted forest. I found that in Central Panama, in contrast to the model, seed mass does not correlate well with either body size of the seed predator, or vertebrate seed predation rates. This work suggests that terrestrial vertebrates play an underappreciated role in maintaining plant diversity and composition and that pan-tropical levels of unsustainable hunting may indirectly lead to losses of plant biodiversity.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Kurten, Erin Leigh |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Primary advisor | Dirzo, Rodolfo |
| Thesis advisor | Dirzo, Rodolfo |
| Thesis advisor | Ackerly, David D |
| Thesis advisor | Vitousek, Peter Morrison |
| Advisor | Ackerly, David D |
| Advisor | Vitousek, Peter Morrison |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Erin Leigh Kurten. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Erin Leigh Kurten
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...