Open Access
Forest recovery through applied nucleation: effects of tree islet size and disperser mobility on tree recruitment in a temperate landscape
(Elsevier, 2023) Morán-López, Teresa; Rodríguez Pérez, Javier; Donoso, Isabel; Martínez, Daniel; Morales, Juan Manuel; García, Daniel; Ciencias; Zientziak
The plantation of tree islets within deforested areas (applied nucleation) has been proposed as a restoration strategy able to catalyze tree colonization in the matrix with reasonable costs and labor compared to traditional restoration methods such as extensive plantations. However, recent work has questioned its effectiveness in comparison to natural forest regeneration, and observational studies have eventually reported a limited expansion of tree islets after years of planting. To infer the processes affecting the effectiveness of applied nucleation, we used a stochastic model able to predict avian movement and fruit consumption, tree seed dispersal and seedling establishment in a fragmented temperate forest landscape of northern Spain. First, we simulated scenarios of natural regeneration and compared them to applied nucleation in terms of tree colonization in the remaining deforested matrix. Subsequently, in applied nucleation scenarios we assessed the effects of islet size and matrix area recovered on tree recruitment into the matrix. Also, we evaluated if such effects were mediated by the scale of movement of frugivores. Our results showed that applied nucleation triggers matrix colonization by trees at higher rates than natural regeneration because it avoids frugivore entrapment within forest edges. Also, that large tree islets can hamper matrix colonization despite being visited more frequently. If large tree islets offer abundant resources, animals do not need to leave their boundaries, concentrating seed deposition within islets. As expected, such effects depended on the scale of movement of frugivores. Our work highlights that in nucleated landscapes, islets harboring fruit-producing trees should attract animal dispersers, and also foster animal inter-islet movement. Both conditions should be met to ensure seed deposition and seedling establishment in the deforested matrix, promoting forest recovery independent of islet expansion through vegetative growth. To achieve these restoration goals, we propose establishing islets whose size and inter-islet distances matches the scale of movement of main seed dispersers present in the area.
Open Access
Abundance and trait-matching both shape interaction frequencies between plants and birds in seed-dispersal networks
(Elsevier, 2023) Peña, Rocío; Schleuning, Matthias; Dalerum, Fredrik; Donoso, Isabel; Rodríguez Pérez, Javier; García, Daniel; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB
Abundance and trait-driven processes have both been identified as potential mechanisms in determining the occurrence of species interactions. However, little is known about how these two mechanisms interact to determine the relative frequencies of interactions between species, and thereby species-specific contributions to ecological functions. Here, we evaluate the effect of both species¿ abundance and trait-matching on the occurrence of plant-bird seed dispersal interactions in the Cantabrian Range (northern Spain). For two years at fourteen plots, we independently sampled the abundance and diversity of fleshy-fruited plants and frugivores, as well as the consumption of fruits by birds. We quantified trait-matching by applying a food-web approach based on the log-ratios of species traits relevant to seed dispersal and traits related to fruit-handling and foraging-stratum. We fitted multi-level models incorporating phylogenetic relatedness to identify phylogenetically independent effects of species abundance and trait-matching on interaction frequencies. Fitted models showed that species abundances of both plants and birds always had strong positive effects on interaction frequencies. Trait-matching effects associated with fruit-handling were weak, but consistent across years, whereas those derived from foraging stratum varied across years, according to strong interannual changes in species abundance. Our findings reveal that both species abundance and functional traits are required for a mechanistic understanding of species interactions, as well as for predicting species roles in ecosystems under global change.

Rodríguez Pérez, Javier

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