Plant-animal interactions
What are plant-animal interactions?
Plants and animals interact in a range of ways including predation (usually but not always (!) of plants by animals) competition for resources and mutalistic interactions such as pollination where both plants and pollinators benefit. Plant-animal interactions are also key components of biomanification pathways for potentially toxic elements moving through the trophic levels of ecosystems.
Why study plant-animal interactions?
Plant-animal interactions have been key agents driving the evolution of biological diversity, play crucial roles in regulating the vulnerability of rare species and can be important levers influencing ecological function. For example: grazing by mammal herbivores can have detrimental effects on the populations of some species whilst being an important mechanism enhancing overall diversity; loss of pollinators for crop species can have startlingly important economic consequences; biomagnification of toxic metals through trophic levels can adversely affect ecological function at several trophic levels.
Research activities
Previous plant –animal interactions research work in which staff have been involved include projects investigating: the movement of potentially toxic metals through agricultural systems; the effect of rabbit grazing on the conservation value of land in set-aside and the evolution of pollination systems in Californian monkey flowers.
- Interaction between Andean mammal distributions and habitat quality of cloud forests
- Ecological impacts of sika deer Cervus nippon
- Evolution of trap pollination systems
- Biomagnification of potentially toxic elements in grassland and heathland ecosystems
- Plant-pollinator interactions in rare species of Arum
- Effect of alpine marmots on endemic Iris latifolia and species diversity in Pyrenean alpine pastures
Publications
Diaz, A. & Kite, G.C., 2006. Why be a rewarding trap? The evolution of floral rewards in Arum (Araceae), a genus characterised by saprophilous pollination systems. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 88 (2), 257-268.
Diaz, A, Aka Amoin, M. & Gibernau, M., 2006. An investigation into the effectiveness of some mechanisms of reproductive isolation in Arum maculatum and A. italicum (Araceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 150 (3), 323-328.
Green, I.D. Jeffries, C. Diaz, A. Tibbett, M., 2006. Contrasting behaviour of cadmium and zinc in a soil-plant-arthropod system. Chemosphere, 64 (7), 1115-1121.
Green, I.D., Tibbett, M., Diaz, A., 2005. Effects of aphid infestation on Cd and Zn concentration in wheat. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 109 (1-2), 175-178.
Gibernau, M., Macquart, D. & Diaz, A., 2003. Pollen viability and longevity in two species of Arum. Aroideana, 26, 27-32.
Warren, J. & Diaz, A., 2002. A two pollinator model for the evolution of floral complexity. Evolutionary Ecology, 15, 157-166
Méndez, M. & Diaz, A., 2001. Flowering dynamics in Arum italicum (Araceae): relative role of inflorescence traits, flowering synchrony and pollination context on fruit initiation. American Journal of Botany, 88 (10), 1774-1780.
Diaz, A., 2000. Can plant palatability trials be used to predict the effect of rabbit grazing on the flora of ex-arable land? Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 78, 249-259.
Ollerton, J. & Diaz, A., 1999. Evidence for stabilising selection acting on flowering time in Arum maculatum (Araceae): the influence of phylogeny on adaptation. Oecologia, 199, 340-348.
Diaz, A., 1999. The effect of rabbits on the vegetation of farmland in set-aside. Botanical Journal of Scotland, 51: 111-126.
Diaz, A., 1998. Comparison of methods for measuring rabbit incidence on grasslands. Mammalia, 62, 205-212
Contact email address
For further information, contact Dr Anita Diaz
| School of Conservation Sciences | |
| Bournemouth University Christchurch House Talbot Campus Poole Dorset BH12 5BB UK |
Email: consci@bournemouth.ac.uk Website: www.bournemouth.ac.uk/cceec/ Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965178 Fax: +44 (0) 1202 965530 |
