Scientific Personnel
We have assembled a team with expertise in seed dispersal, plant population and community dynamics, large-scale atmospheric flows, canopy turbulence, and population genetics. The PIs and co-PIs already have a history of successful collaboration (Dalling et al., 2002; Levin et al., 2003; Muller-Landau et al., 2004; Muller-Landau & Hardesty, 2005; Muller-Landau et al., 2002; Nathan et al., 2002; Nathan & Muller-Landau, 2000; Wright et al., 2005; Wright et al., 2003).
Ran Nathan, lead PI, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Nathan successfully led various empirical studies, and took the lead on linking these studies with advanced atmospheric models, in our past NSF-supported project on seed dispersal by wind. He has 14 years of experience with both empirical and theoretical aspects of seed dispersal and plant recruitment. He will be responsible for the link between the models and empirical data, the seed aerodynamics measurements and will take the lead in testing the mechanistic models and making them available for exploring the role of dispersal at different levels of organization and across multiple scales.
Helene Muller-Landau, PI, University of Minnesota. Muller-Landau has worked extensively on both empirical and theoretical aspects of seed dispersal and its consequences. She has 8 years of experience working in Panama, including analyses of and publications on seed rain on BCI. She will assist in designing and overseeing the field work and in validating the mechanistic models, will contribute substantially to the analyses of the implications of dispersal for individuals and will take the lead in the analyses of the implications of dispersal for populations and communities.
Roni Avissar, PI, Duke University. Avissar has extensive experience in developing atmospheric models, with a focus on application for seed dispersal during the last 4 years, stimulated by our past NSF-supported project. He will guide and supervise the work of his graduate student Bohrer, in constructing and implementing the mechanistic model of seed dispersal by wind in heterogeneous landscapes.
Joe Wright, co-PI, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Wright has extensive experience in this system, which has been key to developing the research plan and will be crucial to successful execution of the proposed research. Wright will oversee the field work and work with the PIs on analyses and publication. He will take the lead in the analyses for individuals and will contribute substantially to the analyses of the implications of dispersal for populations and communities.
Andy Jones, postdoctoral associate, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Jones brings expertise in developing microsatellite markers, population ecology and genetics, and the use of genetic data in seed dispersal analyses. He has four years experience working on BCI and Panama and has developed the markers for the five species included in this study. He will be responsible for tissue collection from sites outside BCI, for all the molecular assays, and for the analyses of the molecular data to determine dispersal distances and genetic structure. He will assist in field work when necessary.
Gil Bohrer, PhD candidate, Duke University. Bohrer has a background in biology (B.S.), ecology (M.S.), and applied computer science (past employment as a statistical algorithm developer and data analyst). He is currently a PhD student in Avissar's lab at Duke, developing LES simulation tools in nested regional meteorological models. He will be responsible for developing the LES simulation based on the existing RAMS version 5 regional model; calibrating the LES model parameters based on measurements at BCI and implementing the high resolution canopy, soil and topographical information from BCI into the model; and developing the super-parameterization of high resolution climatic and surface heterogeneity and its effects on seed parameters in the CELC model.
Literature Cited
Dalling, J.W., Muller-Landau, H.C., Wright, S.J., & Hubbell, S.P. (2002) Role of dispersal in the recruitment limitation of neotropical pioneer species. Journal of Ecology, 90, 714-727.
Levin, S.A., Muller-Landau, H.C., Nathan, R., & Chave, J. (2003) The ecology and evolution of seed dispersal: a theoretical perspective. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 34, 575-604.
Muller-Landau, H.C., Dalling, J.W., Harms, K.E., Wright, S.J., Condit, R., Hubbell, S.P., & Foster, R.B. (2004). Seed dispersal and density-dependent seed and seedling mortality in Trichilia tuberculata and Miconia argentea. In Forest Diversity and Dynamism: Findings from a Network of Large-Scale Tropical Forest Plots, (eds E.C. Losos & E.G. Leigh, Jr.), pp. 340-362. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Muller-Landau, H.C. & Hardesty, B.D. (2005). Seed dispersal of woody plants in tropical forests: concepts, examples, and future directions. In Biotic Interactions in the Tropics: Their Role in the Maintenance of Species Diversity (eds D. Burslem, M. Pinard & S. Hartley), pp. 267-309. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Muller-Landau, H.C., Wright, S.J., Calderón, O., Hubbell, S.P., & Foster, R.B. (2002). Assessing recruitment limitation: concepts, methods and case-studies from a tropical forest. In Seed Dispersal and Frugivory: Ecology, Evolution and Conservation (eds D.J. Levey, W.R. Silva & M. Galetti), pp. 35-53. CAB International, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK.
Nathan, R., Katul, G.G., Horn, H.S., Thomas, S.M., Oren, R., Avissar, R., Pacala, S.W., & Levin, S.A. (2002) Mechanisms of long-distance dispersal of seeds by wind. Nature, 418, 409-413.
Nathan, R. & Muller-Landau, H.C. (2000) Spatial patterns of seed dispersal, their determinants and consequences for recruitment. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 15, 278-285.
Wright, S.J., Muller-Landau, H.C., Calderón, O., & Hernández, A. (2005) Annual and spatial variation in seedfall and seedling recruitment in a Neotropical forest. Ecology, 86, 848-860.
Wright, S.J., Muller-Landau, H.C., Condit, R., & Hubbell, S.P. (2003) Shade tolerance, realized vital rates, and size distributions of tropical trees. Ecology, 84, 3174-3185.