Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

104 PARALLEL SESSION HALL H IV PLANT INTERACTIONPARALLEL SESSION HALL H IV | PLANT PHYSIOLOGY 105THE SPATIAL GENETIC STRUCTURE OF BAT-DISPERSEDNEOTROPICAL FIG SPECIES (FICUS SPP., MORACEAE)PARALLEL SESSION, WEDNESDAY 11:30, HALL H IV:PLANT PHYSIOLOGYChair: Michael LakatosKatrin Heer 1 , Elisabeth K.V. Kalko 1 , Christopher W. Dick 3WEDNESDAY 10:45 Hall H IV1University of Ulm, Ulm, DE, katrin.heer@uni-ulm.de, 2 Smithsonian TropicalResearch Institute, Balboa, Panama, 3 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, UnitedStatesNeotropical fruit-eating bats (Phyllostomidae, Chiroptera) are considered to beeffective seed disperser of many fig species as they disperse large amounts ofviable seeds. However, the dispersal distances of these seeds are still uncertainas actual seed deposition events are hard to observe in nocturnal flyingmammals. Methodological advances in molecular genetics now allow indirectmeasurements of seed dispersal distances: highly polymorphic genetic markers,in particular microsatellites have become important tools to assess gene flow intree populations. They are used increasingly to derive estimates of pollen andseed dispersal distances.Despite the importance of figs as keystone resources for many frugivores in the(sub)tropics, spatial genetic structure (SGS) is virtually unknown. We studiedSGS of several Neotropical fig species from Panama and Costa Rica and presentpreliminary results of our studies. We are interested in quantifying the strengthof spatial genetic structure in figs considering pollen is transported over largedistances by mutualistic fig wasps and evaluating the differences in SGS amongfig species that are dispersed by bat species differing in mobility.FROM HERBARIUM SPECIMEN TO CONSERVATIONRECOMMENDATION _ THE EXAMPLE OF BOMELIADS(BROMELIACEAE) IN PANAMADaniel Cáceres 1,2 , Katharina Schulte 1,3,4 , Marco Schmidt 1,2,3 , GeorgZizka 1,2,31Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Frankfurt/Main, Abteilung Botanik undmolekulare Evolutionsforschung, Frankfurt/Main, DE, gzizka@senckenberg.de, 2 Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main, Institut für Ökologie, Evolution undDiversität, Frankfurt/Main, DE, 3 Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum(BiK-F), Frankfurt/Main, DE, 4 Australian Tropical Herbarium, James CookUniversity, Cairns, AUSpeaker: Daniel CaceresThe Bromeliaceae comprise over 3,000 almost exclusively neotropical species.Known for their extraordinary ecological versatility, the members have radiatedsucessfully in terrestrial and epiphytic habitats. The dependancy of many of thetropical, especially epiphytic species on suitable habitats like lowland humidrainforest or cloud forest makes the bromeliads a plant group suitable forassessing the conservation potential of protected areas and the spotting of upto now not protected areas especially worth conservation.The detailed study of the collections of relevant herbaria and extensive fieldworkin Western Panama (where diversity of vascular plants and the degree ofendemism are especially high) led to an updated inventory for the Bromeliaceaeof Panama, now comprising 16 genera and 206 species. 28 species of theseare recorded for Panama for the first time. Over 8,000 distribution records(herbarium specimens and observation data) from Panama and adjacent CostaRica were filed and potential distribution areas were calculated using ecologicalniche modelling. Maps of overall bromeliad distribution in Panama are providedbased on these data.To infer recommendations for conservaton, abundance and ecologicalpreferences were estimated for each of the bromeliad species in WesternPanama and correlated to the distribution and diversity data.WEDNESDAY 11:30 Hall H IVgtöSociety for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Status and future of tropical biodiversity | Frankfurt, 21 - 24 February 2011gtö