Ep. 537 - From Seeds to Climate

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Science & Medicine, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Large seed dispersers are disproportionately affected by human disturbances like habitat loss and poaching. At the same time, a disproportionate number of tropical tree species rely on animals for seed dispersal. What happens when these animals disappear from an area? Do forests suffer and how might this impact things like carbon cycling and climate? Join me and Dr. Evan Fricke as we explore these questions and more. This episode was produced in part by Nadia, Heidi, Blake, Josh, Laure, R.J., Carly, Lucia, Dana, Sarah, Lauren, Strych Mind, Linda, Sylvan, Austin, Sarah, Ethan, Elle, Steve, Cassie, Chuck, Aaron, Gillian, Abi, Rich, Shad, Maddie, Owen, Linda, Alana, Sigma, Max, Richard, Maia, Rens, David, Robert, Thomas, Valerie, Joan, Mohsin Kazmi Photography, Cathy, Simon, Nick, Paul, Charis, EJ, Laura, Sung, NOK, Stephen, Heidi, Kristin, Luke, Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the In Defensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of
0:03.8	Indefenseplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week? Real quick, we have customizable merch for sale. You can find the link for it over at Indefensiveplants.com. Just click on Apparel at the top or navigate to the show notes. I put the links there as well. Apparel is such a great way to support the show and look really cool in the process. All of our apparel features vintage botanical prints and like I said, they're customizable. And I know ads are annoying, but podcasts like you're about to hear do not happen unless you support shows like in defense of plants. And merch is a great way to do that and to get something cool in return. But that's enough about that. I have a really, really interesting episode for you today, and it's picking up where we kind of left
0:41.5	off on last week's episode about seed dispersal and how the loss of biodiversity can affect
0:46.4	things like forest regeneration and climate. Joining us to talk about this is Dr. Evan Fricky,
0:50.9	who spends a lot of time thinking about how small-scale ecosystem processes
0:54.7	like the loss of seed dispersers in tropical forests can scale up to entire ecosystems and even our
1:00.1	climate. The links may not be obvious right out of the gates, but they are there and they're
1:04.1	really important to understand because it helps us make better management decisions in the long
1:07.9	run. I don't want to steal any more of his thunder, though. This is a really important conversation, so let's just jump right into it.
1:13.4	Without further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Evan Fricky.
1:16.4	I hope you enjoy.
1:34.2	Thank you. All right, Dr. Evan Fricky, welcome to the podcast.
1:35.7	I can't wait to pick your brain today.
1:37.6	But first, let's start off with an introduction.
1:40.3	Tell us a little bit about who you are and what it is you do.
1:41.5	Yeah.
1:47.9	Well, I'm an ecologist at MIT, and I'm really focused on the interactions between biodiversity loss and climate change. I know a lot of people are interested in those connections,
1:53.9	so the thing that I'm particularly interested in are basically is the importance of seed
1:58.5	dispersing animals and the decline of seed dispersing animals and the decline of seed dispersing
2:01.6	animals and the impacts that has on our plant communities and how they respond to change,
2:07.6	how they cope with this dynamic planet that we're on.
2:10.5	Nice.
	...

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