Dr. Sewall wins NSF grant in community ecology

Dr. Sewall has won a three-year National Science Foundation grant for a project to study community structure and dynamics in ecological communities.  The project builds on some of Dr. Sewall’s previous research, and focuses on improving theoretical and empirical understanding of mutualistic networks, the sets of mutually-beneficial interactions that link diverse species within ecological communities.  The research will focus on interactions between frugivores (fruit-eating animals such as primates, fruit bats, and birds) and fruit-bearing trees within a tropical dry forest in Madagascar.  The project has been funded by NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology Population and Community Ecology Program.  Dr. Amy Freestone, also of Temple University, is a co-PI on the grant.