Our lab studies animal-plant interactions with emphasis on mutualistic seed dispersal by frugivores (i.e., fruit-eating animals that disperse seeds effectively). We use field-based research, experimentation, and models to answer fundamental questions about the patterning, organization, and resilience of communities.
Current major projects in the lab investigate:
- Antiapostatic or rare-biased frugivory as a diversity-maintenance process in plant communities(NSF DEB-1556719, in collaboration with Juan Morales, César Arana, Letty Salinas, Marco Pizo & Teresa Morán-López).
- The influence of marine inputs from the guano seabird colony (Sula sula) in the phenology of palnt communities and the architecture of animal-plant interactions in Mona, a small oceanic island.
- Fragmentation and the functional traits of fruiting plants and animals in shaping seed dispersal on deforested landscapes in Brasil (in collaboration with Marco Pizo, UNESP, funded by FAPESP).
- The use of stable isotopes as tracers and dietary indicators of frugivory and seed dispersal. (several projects in collaboration with D. Tallamy, P. Marra, and N. Cordeiro).
- Phyllogeography and evolutionary ecology of Dendropemon mistletoes in the Caribbean (in collaboration with M. Caraballo-ortiz & Claude dePamphilis).