Modeling the effect of environmental factors and animal-dispersed woody plants on the spatial distribution of new Iberian forests

Seed dispersal by vertebrates such as birds and rodents have been investigated extensively in Mediterranean vegetation over recent decades. Seed dispersal, at long and short distances, allow plants to colonize vacant habitats and trigger dynamic processes that increase new pioneer woody plants in the Mediterranean region. Despite that the seed dispersal by vertebrates has been studied for long in Mediterranean forests, the contribution to the assembly of these new forests by vertebrates is also still largely unknown. The main goal of my research internship is to help understand the association between environmental factors (e.g. climate, topography, and landscape) and the colonization of the new Iberian forests by animal-dispersed woody plants. Understanding this forest system (interaction between animal disperser – new Iberian forests) allows to improve strategies for the forest biodiversity conservation in Spain and to mitigate the problems of global and climate change.

Faculty Supervisor:

Liliana Perez

Student:

Partner:

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Forestry; Life Sciences (not health); Environmental Science and Technology

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: