Britta Denise Hardesty
PhD Candidate Emeritus
Contact Information:
2502 Miller Plant Sciences
Department of Plant Biology
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
USA
Phone: +1 (706) 583 0442
Fax: +1 (706) 542 1805
Email: hardesty@plantbio.uga.edu
Homepage:
http://www.plantbio.uga.edu/~hardesty/
Research Interests:
Seed dispersal is a key process in structuring plant communities at local and larger spatial and temporal scales. Over the last several years, I have merged my interest in vertebrate (particularly avian) ecology with dispersal ecology. Most recently, I have employed the use of molecular markers (microsatellites and AFLP's) to evaluate the role of active dispersal in tropical trees.
Dissertation Research:
"Patterns of Genetic Diversity and Seedling Recruitment in the Dioecious Neotropical Tree Simarouba amara"
My dissertation research focused on the impacts of vertebrate dispersal in tropical forests using a combination of field and molecular techniques. Working with a widespread dioecious neotropical tree, Simarouba amara, I 1) assessed the fine-scale genetic structure at three different size/age classes within a 50 ha permanent Forest Dynamics Plot on Barro Colorado Island, Panama 2) compared local, regional, and landscape level genetic variation and gene flow across central and South America at field sites in Panama, Ecuador and French Guiana 3) used maternity and paternity analyses to determine successful seed dispersal distances and to separate seed and pollen contributions of dispersal and 4) evaluated population demographics and the relationship between tree height, crown area, neighborhood, and fecundity as it relates to survivorship, growth, and annual survivorship of offspring. In addition, I looked at local effects of secondary dispersal by ants for S. amara and working to improve current models using empirical data to better assess the 'tail' of dispersal curves for vertebrate-dispersed tree species.