Effect of landscape tree cover, sex and season on the bioaccumulation of persistent organochlorine pesticides in fruit bats of riparian corridors in eastern Mexico.

Riparian forests are recognized as important ecosystems for biodiversity conservation in transformed landscapes. Many animal species that use this type of vegetation facilitate its recovery through pollination and seed dispersal. In landscapes dominated by agrosystems and cattle ranching, persistent organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the riparian system may have an effect on the physiology and fitness of animals.

Bat-fruit interactions are more specialized in shaded-coffee plantations than in tropical mountain cloud forest fragments.

Forest disturbance causes specialization of plant-frugivore networks and jeopardizes mutualistic interactions through reduction of ecological redundancy. To evaluate how simplification of a forest into an agroecosystem affects plant-disperser mutualistic interactions, we compared bat-fruit interaction indexes of specialization in tropical montane cloud forest fragments (TMCF) and shaded-coffee plantations (SCP). Bat-fruit interactions were surveyed by collection of bat fecal samples.

Specialization clines in the pollination systems of agaves (Agavaceae) and columnar cacti (Cactaceae): A phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis.

The biogeography of plant-animal interactions is a novel topic on which many disciplines converge (e.g., reproductive biology, biogeography, and evolutionary biology).

Nurse plants vs. nurse objects: effects of woody plants and rocky cavities on the recruitment of the Pilosocereus leucocephalus columnar cactus.

Background And Aims: Most studies on cactus recruitment have focused on the role of woody plants as seedling facilitators. Although the spatial association of cacti with objects had been described, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unknown. The aims of this study were to identify which mechanisms facilitate the establishment of a columnar cactus under the shade and protection of objects and to compare these mechanisms with those involved in plant-plant facilitation.

Bat- and Bird-Generated Seed Rains at Isolated Trees in Pastures in a Tropical Rainforest.

Bats are abundant and effective seed dispersers inside the forest, but what happens when a forest is fragmented and transformed into pasture? The landscape at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico, originally rainforest, is greatly fragmented and covered with pastures. We analyzed the seed rains produced by frugivorous bats and birds under isolated trees in pastures in the fragmented landscape and the contribution of this process to vegetational recovery. We surveyed bats and obtained fecal samples under isolated trees in pastures.