Daniel García Associate Professor Depto. Biología de Organismos y Sistemas Universidad de Oviedo C/ Rodrigo Uría s/n, Oviedo 33006, Asturias, Spain Phone: 34 985 104788
	E-mail: danielgarcia@uniovi.es

	Lab's news
	A new paper by Alicia and Dani in Applied Vegetation Science about habitat fragmentation and primrose's distribution and demography in Cantabrian forest.
	Two papers recently published in Conservation Biology about conservation of  seed dispersal by birds!! The first one, by José Manuel and Dani, is about the effects of habitat fragmentation on seed dispersal and recruitment of fleshy-fruited trees. The second one, by Dani, Regino Zamora and Guille Amico, deals with the determinants of the seed dispersal service supplied by birds in temperate ecosystems.
	A new project set up in the lab, in collaboration with Tomás Carlo, from Pennstate University, to assess actual long dispersal distances and context-dependent dispersal kernels in ornithochorous trees, using 15N enrichment to label seeds in mother plants.

Research We study the ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant-animal interactions, such as pollination, frugivory, seed dispersal, seed predation and herbivory, from two major approaches: 1. Plant-animal interactions are processes with effects across different levels of biological organization, from population to ecosystems 2. Plant-animal interactions are processes dependent on the  landscape configuration and on the spatial scale UP

Study systems We carry out our research in secondary and mature forests of the Cantabrian range (Asturias, N Spain). Our study systems are fleshy-fruited trees like Crataegus monogyna, Ilex aquifolium, and Taxus baccata, mostly dispersed by frugivorous birds (thrushes and blackbirds, Turdus sp.), and whose dispersed seeds are preyed upon by small rodents (Apodemus sp.). We also study several forest perennial herbs like Primula vulgaris, wich is pollinated by flies and bumblebees and dispersed by ants. Occasionally, we also work in temperate forests of Austral South America (Patagonia, Argentina), studying also frugivory and seed dispersal of understorey fleshy-fruited woody plants like Aristotelia chilensis by birds like Elaenia albiceps, as well as the peculiar mutualism between the mistletoe Tristerix corymbosus and the endemic marsupial Dromiciops gliroides. UP

Ongoing and recent projects Landscape configuration and demographic outcomes of plant-animal interactions in Cantabrian montane forests. CGL2008-1275/BOS (MICINN). 2008-2010. Participants: Daniel García (LR), Juan Manuel Morales, José Manuel Herrera, Alicia Valdés, Daniel Martínez. Climate change and spatio-temporal disruptions of life-cycles in the Cantabrian range. IB08-039 (FICYT). Participants: Daniel García (LR), Alfredo Glez. Nicieza, David Álvarez, Magdalena Choda, José Manuel Herrera, Alicia Valdés, Daniel Martínez. Plant-animal interactions in fragmented habitats II: the role of matrix on seed dispersal. CGL2004-02936 (MEC). 2007-2008. Participants: Daniel García (LR), José Manuel Herrera, Juan Manuel Morales, Alicia Valdés, Daniel Martínez. Plant-animal interactions in fragmented habitats: from individual to landscape. CGL2004-02936 (MEC). 2004-2007. Participants: Daniel García (LR), José Manuel Herrera, Isabel Martínez, José Ramón Obeso. Habitat degradation and conservation of plant-animal interactions: a comparative geographic and multi-scaled analysis. BIOCON03-162 (Fundación BBVA). 2004-2007. Participants: Daniel García (LR), Alicia Valdés, Daniel Martínez, Diego Vázquez, Valeria Aschero, Natacha P. Chacoff, Guillermo Amico, Mariano Rodríguez-Cabal, Marcelo Aizen, Regino Zamora, Luis Matías UP

García D, Rodríguez-Cabal M & Amico GC (2009) Seed dispersal by a frugivorous marsupial shapes the spatial scale of a mistletoe population. Journal of Ecology 97: 217-229.

García D & Chacoff NP (2007) Scale-dependent effects of habitat fragmentation on hawthorn pollination, frugivory and seed predation. Conservation Biology 21: 400-411.

García D, Obeso JR & Martínez I (2005) Spatial concordance between seed rain and seedling establishment in bird-dispersed trees: does the scale matter? Journal of Ecology 93: 693-704

García D & Ortiz-Pulido R (2004) Patterns of resource tracking by avian frugivores at multiple spatial scales – two case studies on discordance among scales. Ecography 27: 187-196.

García D (2001) Effects of seed dispersal on Juniperus communis recruitment on a Mediterranean mountain. Journal of Vegetation Science 12: 839-848.

García D, Zamora R, Gómez JM, Jordano P & Hódar JA (2000) Geographical variation in seed production, predation and abortion in Juniperus communis throughout its range in Europe. Journal of Ecology 88: 436-446.

The lab José Manuel Herrera (M Sc, Ph D student) Alicia Valdés (M Sc, Ph D student) Daniel Martínez (M Sc, Ph D student) Vanesa Rivera (Technician) Juan Rodríguez (Technician) René Pérez (Technician) Other students Valeria Aschero (Ph D, co-supervised with D Vázquez) Rocío Jaña (Ph D, co-supervised with D Kelly at Canterbury University NZ) Former post-docs, students and technicians Javier Rodríguez-Pérez (Post-doc) Isabel Martínez (Ph D, co-supervised with JR Obeso) Luis Matías (M Sc, co-supervised with R Zamora) Susana García (Technician) Carlos Guardado (Technician) UP

	Links ECESPA
	Instituto Cantábrico de Biodiversidad (ICAB, CSIC-Universidad de Oviedo-Gobierno del Principado de Asturias)
	Médicos sin Fronteras