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Rainforest tree diversity may be tied to seed dispersal mongabay.com November 28, 2006
Joshua B. Plotkin of Harvard University and Tristram Seidler of Imperial College in England analyzed the dispersal mechanisms and spatial distributions of 561 tree species in a 50-hectare plot of lowland tropical forest at Pasoh Forest Reserve in peninsular Malaysia. The found that trees with smaller fruit tended to be less widely dispersed than trees with large fruit, suggesting that larger-bodied birds and mammals carry the seeds of these tree species over greater distances. Plotkin and Seidler also found that trees with wind-dispersed seeds were situated in tight cluster, indicative of the weak breeze in the forest canopy. "Overall, there is a highly significant relationship between mode of seed dispersal and the clustering and arrangement of mature trees in the rainforest," said Plotkin. "This strong correlation demonstrates the long-term impact that these dispersal methods have on the organization of the large-scale forest."
"Our results provide broad empirical evidence for the importance of dispersal mode in establishing the long-term community structure of tropical forests," added Plotkin. The research is published in the November issue of the journal Public Library of Science - Biology. This article is based on a news release from Harvard University. Recommend this article? Comments? Digg this article | Hugg this article | Contact News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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