Dr. Tomás A. Carlo

Education

B.S. University of Puerto Rico 1996
M.S. North Carolina State University 1999
Ph.D. University of Colorado 2005

Diversity

I am a tropical ecologist interested in how ecological interactions such as competition and facilitation promote species' coexistence.

• Why are species distributed as they are and why they are as abundant as they are?
• How do animal-plant interactions help shape the abundance and distribution of plants?
• How does the presence of a species impact other neighboring species?

I am especially interested in understanding plant-frugivore relationships and their impact on plant communities. For example, I am developing models and conducting experiments to test the role of frugivores in creating and maintaining plant species assemblages.

Ecology and Evolution

I am working on developing model systems in which to examine how plants evolve dispersal-related traits in plant-frugivore systems involving multiple interacting species. Currently, I am studying the evolution of fruit-traits in Puerto Rican mistletoes and the formation of wild chilies-nurse plant associations in Arizona and Bolivia.

Conservation

Developing sustainable conservation strategies for species and biodiversity in general requires a basic understanding of the web of ecological interactions that shapes the distribution of organisms. My research focuses on understanding elemental mechanisms and function of species interactions and how they affect the structure and diversity of plant communities. Understanding such ecological links between species can help guide both restoration ecology and conservation biology efforts.

Contact information

dendrophthora@gmail.com (email)
Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Carlo TA, Aukema JE, Morales JM. (In press). Plant-frugivore interactions as spatially explicity networks: integrating animal foraging and fruiting plant spatial patterns. In A. Dennis, E. Schupp, and D. Wescott (Eds.) Seed dispersal: theory and its application in a changing world, CABI, Oxon UK.

Morales JM, and Carlo TA. (2006) The effects of plant distribution and frugivore disnity on the scale and shape of dispersal kernels. Ecology.

Carlo TA, Aukema JE (2005) Female directed dispersal and facilitation between a tropical mistletoe and a dioecious host. Ecology. 3245-3251.

Carlo TA (2005) Interspecifc neighbors change seed dispersal pattern of an avian-dispersed plant. Ecology. 2440-2449.

Saracco JF, Collazo JA, Groom MJ, Carlo TA. (2005) Crop size and fruit neighborhood effects on visitation to fruiting trees. Biotropica. 37:80-86.

Kuijt J, Carlo TA, Aukema JE. (2005) A new endemic species for Puerto Rico: Dendrophtora bermejae (Viscaceae). Contr. Univ. Michigan Herb. 24:115-118.

Carlo TA, Collazo JA, Groom MJ. (2004) Influences of fruit diversity and abundance on bird use of two shaded coffee plantations. Biotropica.36(4):602-614.

Carlo TA, Collazo JA, Groom MJ (2003) Avian fruit preferences across a Puerto Rican forested landscape: pattern consistency and implications for seed removal. Oecologia.134:119-131.