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Philipps-Universität Marburg
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Abstract
Ecological interactions build the backbone of biodiversity and ecosystems. Understanding how species interactions are structured across ecological scales, how they work, and how they are disrupted by anthropogenic pressure is important to predict and reverse the ongoing decline in biodiversity worldwide. Silvicultural practices change the structure and spatial composition of forest ecosystems and can strongly affect species interactions such as seed dispersal by frugivorous animals. Quantifying these effects, however, is complex as it requires in-depth knowledge of the delayed effects of seed dispersal on the regeneration of plant communities, and the effect of humans on the underlying processes. In this thesis, the seed dispersal mutualism between 41 frugivores (31 birds and 10 mammals) and 15 fleshy-fruited plant species was investigated in ash-alder forests in the degraded and intact part of the Białowieża Forest (BF) in Eastern Poland. The results presented here together with previous findings in the studied temperate forest indicate that seed dispersal of fleshy-fruited plants is robust against the loss of single animal species for four reasons: (i) the small fruits of plants can be consumed by most animals and species extinctions will not lead to size mismatches between species during seed dispersal, (ii) most species are not effective seed dispersers, (iii) seed dispersal is qualitatively redundant, and (iv) the dispersal by gravity can also result in successful plant regeneration. However, before species are lost due to forest degradation, the physical environment and ecological interactions change. These ‘background’ effects of species loss on seed dispersal and plant populations are complex, and plant species will respond differently, but the regeneration of the fleshy-fruited plant community is likely to decrease overall. This thesis highlights the value of intact forest ecosystems for the conservation of plant-frugivore communities and their interactions. It further indicates that restoring environmental heterogeneity and the frequency of ecological interactions will improve the functioning of degraded ecosystems and maintain biodiversity.
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Dates
Created: 2021Issued: 2022-12-12Updated: 2022-12-12
Faculty
Fachbereich Biologie
Publisher
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Language
ger
Data types
DoctoralThesis
Keywords
Intakte Wälderforest degradationintact forestsPflanze-Tier-InteraktionenWalddegradierungPlant-frugivore interactions
DDC-Numbers
570
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Rehling, Finn (0000-0003-0403-8009): Integrating animal seed dispersal into plant regeneration. : Philipps-Universität Marburg 2022-12-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/z2022.0100.