9602967 Dieringer This award will support a short-term visit by Dr. Gregg Dieringer of Western Illinois University to Dr. Jose Garcia Franco of the Instituto de Ecologia in Xalapa, Mexico in order to plan research and locate suitable species for a study of different adaptive responses by plant species present in high elevation cloud forests and lowland tropical forests. It has been suggested that frequent episodes of moisture and fog, characteristic of cloud forests, place severe restrictions on the foraging activity of pollinators. Compared with other lower tropical forest types, cloud forest plant populations may exhibit a number or characteristics that result from a lower pollinator abundance. With this visit, the investigators intend to identify species that occur in both montane cloud and lowland forests. These study species will then provide a suitable base from which to engage in a comparative study of pollination dynamics in different habitats. ***
