Seed traits and rodent community interact to determine seed fate: evidence from both enclosure and field experiments

Hou, Xiang; Zhang, Bo; Steele, Michael; Han, Ning; Feng, Tuo; Wang, Jing; Chen, Xiaoning; An, Xiaolei; Chang, Gang

doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12596

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Previous ndings have indicated that seeds that require more time and effort to handle, as well as those with higher nutritional value, are at a greater risk of being harvested and stolen by rodents in enclosures (Hou et al 2021). In this study, we found that C. henryi seeds with the largest seed mass and crude starch were more likely to be harvested and scatter-hoarded after removal by L. edwardsi, consistent with previous ndings (Chang and Zhang 2014).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Effects of seed traits on the cache size of a scatter-hoarding rodent, Leopoldamys edwardsi

Minghui

Yang

2023

Preprint

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Seed traits can influence post-dispersal seed fate and seedling establishment by manipulating the size of caches made by hoarding animals. However, few studies have explored how seed traits affect cache size and subsequent seed fate mediated by hoarding rodents. In this study, we investigated the effects of seed traits on hoarding behavior of Leopoldamys edwardsiusing seeds of Quercus variabilis, Castanea henryi, Camellia oleifera, Lithocarpus harlandii, and Choerospondias axillarisunder enclosures in Dujiangyan City, southwest China, in an attempt to elucidate the relationship between seed traits and cache size. Our results showed that there were significant differences in the scatter-hoarded preference among C. axillaris, C. henryi, C. oleifera, Q. variabilis and L. harlandii by L. edwardsi. There was a significant difference in the cache size between five seed species by L. edwardsi. More importantly, we found that there was a significant positive correlation between cache size and the proportion of intact after removal or crude fat, but a significant negativecorrelation between cache size and seed mass or crude starch. Our study has revealed that seed traits are a key factor in regulating the hoarding behavior of rodents, which includes the size of their caches. This behavior, in turn, has a significant impact on the fate of the seeds and the growth of seedlings that emerge from the caches. Significance statement At present, a large number of studies focus on a certain trait of a single seed or the effect of a certain seed trait of various seeds on the hoarding behavior of rodents, but how seed traits affect cache size and subsequent seed fate mediated by hoarding rodents remains unknown. This study systematically illustrates how rodents build storage sites and determine the seed fates according to seed traits. Establishing food storage sites based on different seed traits involves a trade-off between the recovery rate and the pilfering rate of food-hoarding sites, which may be an adaptive storage strategy formed in the long-term evolution process.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Effects of seed traits on the cache size of a scatter-hoarding rodent, Leopoldamys edwardsi

Minghui

Yang

2023

Preprint

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“…Like most seed‐eating rodents, bank voles also show preference for specific food functional traits, with size and/or high energetic content being the most preferable traits (Eccard & Ylönen, 2006 ; Ellingsen et al, 2017 ; Fischer et al, 2017 ; Fischer & Türke, 2016 ). This is in concordance with other rodent species, which also show preference for larger and/or nutrient‐rich seeds (Boone & Mortelliti, 2019 ; Hou et al, 2021 ; Kelrick et al, 1986 ; Mortelliti et al, 2019 ; Wang & Corlett, 2017 ), with fat content being the most preferred nutrient. Rodents can also show preference for certain seed shapes as, together with size, some seeds might be more easily handled and transported than others (Muñoz et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

So many choices, so little time: Food preference and movement vary with the landscape of fear

Ferreira

Dammhahn

Eccard

2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Spatial and temporal variation in perceived predation risk is an important determinant of movement and foraging activity of animals. Foraging in this landscape of fear, individuals need to decide where and when to move, and what resources to choose.Foraging theory predicts the outcome of these decisions based on energetic tradeoffs, but complex interactions between perceived predation risk and preferences of foragers for certain functional traits of their resources are rarely considered. Here, we studied the interactive effects of perceived predation risk on food trait preferences and foraging behavior in bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in experimental landscapes.Individuals (n = 19) were subjected for periods of 24 h to two extreme, risk-uniform landscapes (either risky or safe), containing 25 discrete food patches, filled with seeds of four plant species in even amounts. Seeds varied in functional traits: size, nutrients, and shape. We evaluated whether and how risk modifies forager preference for functional traits. We also investigated whether perceived risk and distance from shelter affected giving-up density (GUD), time in patches, and number of patch visits. In safe landscapes, individuals increased time spent in patches, lowered GUD and visited distant patches more often compared to risky landscapes. Individuals preferred bigger seeds independent of risk, but in the safe treatment they preferred fat-rich over carbrich seeds. Thus, higher densities of resource levels remained in risky landscapes, while in safe landscapes resource density was lower and less diverse due to selective foraging. Our results suggest that the interaction of perceived risk and dietary preference adds an additional layer to the cascading effects of a landscape of fear which affects biodiversity at resource level.

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“…In forest ecosystems, the seed-rodent interaction system is an important component of ecosystem function and services ( Vander Wall, 1990 ; Yang et al., 2020 ; Hou et al., 2021 ; Chen et al., 2022 ). The population of rodents often oscillates greatly in forests under influence of climate change and human disturbance ( Flowerdew et al., 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High seed diversity and availability increase rodent community stability under human disturbance and climate variation

Yang

Gu²,

Zhao³

et al. 2022

Front. Plant Sci.

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The relationship between diversity and stability is a focus in community ecology, but the relevant hypotheses have not been rigorously tested at trophic and network levels due to a lack of long-term data of species interactions. Here, by using seed tagging and infrared camera tracking methods, we qualified the seed-rodent interactions, and analyzed the associations of rodent community stability with species diversity, species abundance, and seed-rodent network complexity of 15 patches in a subtropical forest from 2013 to 2021. A total of 47,400 seeds were released, 1,467 rodents were marked, and 110 seed-rodent networks were reconstructed to estimate species richness, species abundance, and seed-rodent network metrics. We found, from younger to older stands, species richness and abundance (biomass) of seeds increased, while those of rodents decreased, leading to a seed-rodent network with higher nestedness, linkage density, and generality in older stands, but higher connectance in younger stands. With the increase of temperature and precipitation, seed abundance (biomass), rodent abundance, and the growth rate of rodent abundance increased significantly. We found rodent community stability (i.e., the inverse of rodent abundance variability) was significantly and positively associated with seed diversity, seed availability, linkage density and generality of seed-rodent networks, providing evidence of supporting the Bottom-Up Diversity-Stability Hypotheses and the Abundant Food Diversity-Stability Hypothesis. Our findings highlight the significant role of resource diversity and availability in promoting consumers’ community stability at trophic and network levels, and the necessity of protecting biodiversity for increasing ecosystem stability under human disturbance and climate variation.

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Seed traits and rodent community interact to determine seed fate: evidence from both enclosure and field experiments

Cited by 13 publications

References 71 publications

Effects of seed traits on the cache size of a scatter-hoarding rodent, Leopoldamys edwardsi

Effects of seed traits on the cache size of a scatter-hoarding rodent, Leopoldamys edwardsi

So many choices, so little time: Food preference and movement vary with the landscape of fear

High seed diversity and availability increase rodent community stability under human disturbance and climate variation

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