H2020Индивидуална стипендия2017–2019

DIGEST · The impact of seed-dispersal by animals on plant distributions: an experimental and modelling approach

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2017-05-01 → 2019-04-30
Финансиране от ЕС: 177 599 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF-EF-ST

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Разпространението на семена чрез животните в мокрите зони, например чрез водни птици и риби, е основният предмет на анализа. Това помага за по-доброто разбиране на биоразнообразието в тези екосистеми при глобалните промени в околната среда.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

The impact of seed-dispersal by animals on plant distributions: an experimental and modelling approach

Many plant species produce seeds that are ingested, transported and egested by animals. The importance of this dispersal mechanism is today best known for terrestrial plant species producing fleshy-fruits around their seeds to attract animals. However, animals also massively ingest seeds that lack fleshy components in wetland ecosystems, suggesting this dispersal mechanism to also impact wetland biodiversity. Current global pressures on wetlands urge a better understanding of the dispersal mechanisms regulating biodiversity in such “islands in a sea of land”. This project increased our mechanistic understanding of animal-mediated dispersal in wetland ecosystems, and so far concludes that (I) animal-mediated dispersal may be equally important in terrestrial and aquatic habitats; (II) the importance of waterbirds for plant seed dispersal can be predicted based on seed traits such as size and hardness; (III) piscivorous birds secondarily disperse wetland plant seeds first ingested by fish; (IV) alien plant species may also be further dispersed by animals. This project improved our mechanistic understanding of endozoochory, fused terrestrial and aquatic ecology, exchanged knowledge between academia and industry, and informed on an important ecological process in a globally changing world.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Many plant species produce seeds that are ingested, transported and egested by animals. This dispersal mechanism is known as endozoochory, and plays a crucial role in the persistence of a broad range of plant species worldwide. The importance of endozoochory is today best known for terrestrial plant species producing fleshy-fruits around their seeds to attract animals. However, animals also massively ingest seeds that lack fleshy components in wetland ecosystems, suggesting endozoochory can also impact wetland biodiversity. Current global pressures on wetlands urge a better understanding of the dispersal mechanisms regulating biodiversity in such “islands in a sea of land”. The proposed study aims to generate a mechanistic understanding of endozoochory by studying wetland ecosystems in a novel approach: traditional time-consuming and ethically-challenging experiments with living animals will be replaced by an innovative combination of experiments and biogeographical modelling. Four key objectives are to: (I) identify contrasts and similarities between endozoochory in terrestrial and aquatic habitats in a meta-analysis; (II) modify existing artificial digestion protocols for humans and domestic animals so they simulate digestion by three key vector animal species for wetlands, during a secondment in the food industry; (III) use these protocols to estimate the endozoochorous dispersal potential for a wide range of plant species; (IV) use biogeographical modelling to test relations among the suitability index of plant species for endozoochory, plant distributions and movements of vector animals. This integrated approach will improve our mechanistic understanding of endozoochory, fuse terrestrial and aquatic ecology, exchange knowledge between academia and the industry, inform on an important ecological process in a globally changing world, and will allow me to acquire all necessary competences and contacts to initiate my own research group after this project.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

KONINKLIJKE NEDERLANDSE AKADEMIE VAN WETENSCHAPPEN - KNAW · AMSTERDAMКоординаторНидерландия