Online seminar followed by Q&A – all welcome. NB – all times given in UK time.

Tropical ecologists study ecosystem dynamics and recruitment aiming at understanding how high diversity is maintained via diaspore dispersal away from adults, often by animals. With increased threats on rainforests, the diversity of both large- and medium-sized frugivores is endangered, and plant diversity as well. Despite continuous forest cover, ecological services such as seed dispersal by fruit-eating vertebrates might be dramatically altered. Pierre-Michel will review methods developed to rapidly assess the health status of forests in the Guianas, showing that there is still hope for recovery as far there are enough fruit trees for frugivores in the anthropogenized forest.

Pierre-Michel is a Professor of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) and Deputy Director of the Research Unit (“Adaptative Mechanism and Evolution”) mecadev.cnrs.fr/index.php?post/Forget-Pierre-Michel. He studied animal-plant interactions, plant recruitment and the impact of human activities in the Guiana Shield, especially in French Guiana since 1984, and in Central Africa and Malaysia. He edited the SEED FATE book (Cabi, 2005), and the Frugivores and Seed Dispersal volume (Acta Oecologica, 2011). Since 2008, Pierre-Michel organized and chaired major international conferences and symposium in Suriname, Brazil, France, UK and India. He is current President of the Society for Tropical Ecology (Gtö, 2018-24), and past-President (2008) of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC). P-M holds degree from University of Paris 6 (Sorbonne University) (MSc, 1984; PhD, 1988; Habilitation 1999).