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The Effects Of Urbanization On Avian Seed Dispersal Success Of Toxicodendron Radicans (Anacardiaceae), Amber M. Stanley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization is increasing at a dramatic rate as the human population increases. While it is well-known that urbanization tends to decrease species diversity (i.e., biotic homogenization), it is not known how urbanization affects the frequency and efficiency of species interactions. Seed dispersal is a plant-animal interaction that depends on disperser feeding rate, disperser diversity, probability of seed dispersal and germination. How these factors are affected by urbanization however is unknown. In this study, we evaluate how urbanization alters these factors. Urban sites had 2x higher feeding rate and 3x higher number of disperser species. The probability of seed dispersal however …