DIGITAL ARCHIPELAGO

‘Conservation of plant-animal interactions in degraded habitats: a comparative focus and on multiple scales’

Ecology and Conservation Biology

Environment

2004

The aim of this project is to analyse the effect of habitat degradation and fragmentation, two of the chief causes of the crisis of biodiversity, on the workings of plant-animal interactions and their modulating role in the organisation of ecological communities.

DIRECTOR

Daniel García García

RESEARCH TEAM

Daniel García García, Diego P. Vázquez, José Ramón Obeso Suárez, Marcelo Adrián Aizen, María José Bañuelos Martínez, Regino Jesús Zamora Rodríguez.

COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS

Universidad de Oviedo

DESCRIPTION

This project will take a comparative approach factoring different terrestrial ecosystems with varying degrees of degradation and fragmentation (Atlantic hill forest, high Mediterranean scrubland, Argentine semi-arid woodland, South American temperate forest) and different interactions both mutualist (pollinisation, seed dispersal) and antagonist (predation of seeds and seedlings). The project aims to generate basic scientific knowledge of sound quality, easily interpretable in the applied contexts of degraded habitat management or the use of plant-animal interactions as indicators of ecosystem health.