This directly influences the numbers and types of trees that grow. Team members will study how hunting and logging change the population composition of these seed-eating animals, and how they, in turn, affect tree regeneration. With UC Davis Ph.D. candidate Rob Klinger, participants will journey to the Central American nation of Belize to count and measure trees, survey populations of birds and mammals, and document the types of seeds they consume. Animals will be tagged, weighed, and released. Beautiful natural pools, waterfalls, caves, and abundant wildlife surround the pristine wilderness along the Bladen River where the team will camp.
Climate is hot, humid, and often rainy.
Punta Gorda, Belize. One of the most influential ideas in tropical ecology comes from the top-down outlook and has generated numerous studies looking for such effects on rainforest ecology. This idea states that rainforest structure can be strongly affected by the types of animals exploiting fruits and seeds. The concept is centered on differences in the relative abundance of animals that are more prone to disperse seeds compared to those more prone to consume seeds. In this scenario, if populations of large animals are reduced or eliminated from an area, then populations of small and medium-sized animals should increase as a result of release from these larger predators and competition among species.