Research Starter Grant: Measuring the effects of frugivorous birds on seed dispersal, plant recruitment, and soil properties in abandoned tropical pastures.

This project will examine the movement of seeds, by fruit-eating birds, from tropical forest to pasture habitats in Puerto Rico. Seed dispersal is critical for the reestablishment of forest species. A large majority of woody forest plants in this area rely on birds to disperse their seeds. Increased understanding of bird movement between habitats and the fate of seeds that birds disperse will provide a more mechanistic understanding of the early stages of succession and inform conservation and forest restoration efforts. Additional broader impacts will result from collaboration between the PI and a local non-governmental conservation organization in Puerto Rico, and from outreach by the PI to elementary and middle school science teachers and students.