Seed Dispersal and Spatial Pattern in Tropical Trees

Seed Dispersal and Spatial Pattern in Tropical Trees

Theories of tropical tree diversity emphasize dispersal limitation as a potential mechanism for separating species in space and reducing competitive exclusion. We compared the dispersal morphologies, fruit sizes, and spatial distributions of 561 tree species within a fully mapped, 50-hectare plot of primary tropical forest in peninsular Malaysia. We demonstrate here that the extent and scale of...

Animal seed dispersal and the diversity of tropical forest trees.

For thosewho have admired the astonishing diversity of wet tropical forests, it is a near-universal experience to have seen an interesting tree and then not encountered another of the same species for quite some distance. Indeed, this striking tendency of tropical trees to be widely separated from their own kind inspired a major theory to explain tropical diversity, independently proposed by tw...

Seed Dispersal and Frugivory in Tropical Ecosystems

Seed Dispersal and Tree Spatial Recruitment Patterns in Secondary Tropical Rain Forests

Seed dispersal increases local species richness and reduces spatial turnover of tropical tree seedlings.

Dispersal is thought to be a key process underlying the high spatial diversity of tropical forests. Just how important dispersal is in structuring plant communities is nevertheless an open question because it is very difficult to isolate dispersal from other processes, and thereby measure its effect. Using a unique situation, the loss of vertebrate seed dispersers on the island of Guam and thei...