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Kakishima S, Morita S, Yoshida K, Ishida A, Hayashi S, Asami T, Ito H, Miller DG, Uehara T, Mori S, Hasegawa E, Matsuura K, Kasuya E, Yoshimura J. The contribution of seed dispersers to tree species diversity in tropical rainforests. R Soc Open Sci 2015; 2:150330. [PMID: 26587246 PMCID: PMC4632518 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2015] [Accepted: 09/17/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Tropical rainforests are known for their extreme biodiversity, posing a challenging problem in tropical ecology. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversity of tree species, yet our understanding of this phenomenon remains incomplete. Here, we consider the contribution of animal seed dispersers to the species diversity of trees. We built a multi-layer lattice model of trees whose animal seed dispersers are allowed to move only in restricted areas to disperse the tree seeds. We incorporated the effects of seed dispersers in the traditional theory of allopatric speciation on a geological time scale. We modified the lattice model to explicitly examine the coexistence of new tree species and the resulting high biodiversity. The results indicate that both the coexistence and diversified evolution of tree species can be explained by the introduction of animal seed dispersers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoshi Kakishima
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
| | - Satoru Morita
- Department of Mathematical and Systems Engineering, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
| | - Katsuhiko Yoshida
- Biodiversity Conservation Planning Section, Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
| | - Atsushi Ishida
- Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Otsu, Shiga 520-2113, Japan
| | - Saki Hayashi
- Department of Mathematical and Systems Engineering, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
| | - Takahiro Asami
- Department of Biology, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan
| | - Hiromu Ito
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
| | - Donald G. Miller
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Chico, CA 95929, USA
| | - Takashi Uehara
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
| | - Shigeta Mori
- Department of Food, Life, and Environmental Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-8555, Japan
| | - Eisuke Hasegawa
- Department of Ecology and Systematics, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8589, Japan
| | - Kenji Matsuura
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
| | - Eiiti Kasuya
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
| | - Jin Yoshimura
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
- Department of Mathematical and Systems Engineering, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan
- Marine Biosystems Research Center, Chiba University, Kamogawa, Chiba 299-5502, Japan
- Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
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