5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (1985-2010)
FSD 2010 - Jordano
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Pedro Jordano
Integrative Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC
jordano(a)ebd.csic.es
Activities
My research focuses on the ecological and evolutionary consequences of mutualistic interactions between animals and plants. I am interested in plant-animal coevolution, especially in the mutualism between plants producing fleshy fruits and the frugivorous vertebrates that disperse the seeds. My main research lines include field ecology, molecular genetics, and theoretical ecology, addressing different aspects of this main scientific project.
Abstract
The functional value of plant-frugivore mutualistic networks
Recent advances in field techniques, molecular tools, and GIS-based methods allow a thorough analysis of the functional value of plant-frugivore interactions and the ecological service derived from fruit food provisioning and animal-mediated seed dispersal. Mutualistic seed dispersal interactions build up into mega-diverse networks of interacting species. Every interaction mapped in the network has a functional value for the whole mutualistic system described, and the diversity of functional roles embedded generates extensive complexity in the process of plant regeneration and frugivore population dynamics. Because seed dispersal (and its counterpart interaction, fruit food) is serviced by multiple species, studies focusing on pairwise interactions in isolation will underestimate levels of biodiversity required to maintain multifunctional networks. Here I review and develop specific guidelines for the analysis of complex network patterns that incorporate the details of natural history of the interacting species. The network approach has been useful to unveil basic patterns that pervasively influence the resilience of these ecological networks to extinction of species and their interactions. However, a much needed step is to develop early warning signals of ecosystem “health” or to identify key steps to rebuild functional ecological services (e.g., seed dispersal) during habitat restoration actions.
Recent publications
Bascompte, J. and P. Jordano. 2007. The structure of plant-animal mutualistic networks: the architecture of biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 38: 567-593. pdf
Carnicer, J., Jordano, P., and Melián, C. 2009. The temporal dynamics of resource use by frugivorous birds: a network approach.Ecology 90: 1958-1970. pdf
García, C., P. Jordano, J.M. Arroyo and J.A. Godoy. 2009. Spatial and maternal source tree correlations in a frugivore-generated seed rain. Journal of Ecology 97: 1424-1435. pdf
Hampe, A., García-Castaño, J.L., Schupp, E.W., and Jordano, P. 2008. Initial recruitment of vertebrate-dispersed woody plants: a spatially explicit analysis across years. Journal of Ecology, 96: 668-678. pdf
Jordano, P., C. García, J.A. Godoy, and J.L. García-Castaño. 2007. Differential contribution of frugivores to complex seed dispersal patterns. Proceedings National Academy of Sciences USA, 104: 3278-3282. pdf
Other presentations at FSD
Jordano, P. 2007. Frugivores, seeds and genes: analysing the key elements of seed shadows. Pages 229-251 in: Dennis, A., Green, R., Schupp, E.W., and Wescott, D. (eds.). Frugivory and seed dispersal: theory and applications in a changing world. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International, Wallingford, UK.
Jordano, P. and J.A. Godoy. 2002. Frugivore-generated seed shadows: a landscape view of demographic and genetic effects. Pages 305-321 in: Levey, D.J., Silva, W.R. and M. Galetti (eds.). Seed dispersal and frugivory: ecology, evolution and conservation. CAB International International, Wallingford, UK.
Jordano, P. 1993. Geographical ecology and variation of plant-seed disperser interactions: southern Spanish junipers and frugivorous thrushes. In: Estrada, A. and T.H. Fleming (eds.). Frugivory and seed dispersal: ecological and evolutionary aspects. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Pages 85-104. Note: also available in: Vegetatio 107/108 (1993).