Assistants

Role played by herbivorous vertebrates, insects and pathogens in the spacing dynamics and the maintenance of tree species diversity in tropical rainforests

Principal Investigator: Varun Swamy, PhD candidate, Duke University

I am currently investigating the role played by herbivorous vertebrates, insects and pathogens in the spacing dynamics and the maintenance of tree species diversity in tropical rainforests, using a comparative, diagnostic approach. In addition, I plan to initiate a study that examines the effect of foraging behaviour and food preferences of white-lipped peccaries on the composition of heterospecific seedling and sapling recruits around adults of preferred food tree species vs. less-preferred species.