Seeding phenology influences wood mouse seed choices: the overlooked role of timing in the foraging decisions by seed-dispersing rodents

Sunyer, Pau; Espelta, Josep María; Bonal, Raúl; Muñoz, Alberto

doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1731-x

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Each feeding plot consisted of a wire cage with a mesh size of 5x5 cm in which the marked acorns were placed, ensuring that only scatter-hoarding rodents would have access to them [13]. Acorns were marked with a 40-cm-long wire with a flagging tape [42].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We know, for example, that the behavior of animals such as scatter-hoarding rodents may strongly shape the patterns of natural recruitment in many plant species, acting either as seed dispersers or predators [ 8 , 9 ]. From an animal-centered perspective, seed attributes, such as the species or size are known to influence the dispersal vs. predation decision [ 10 – 13 ]. Likewise, environmental variables such as shrub cover [ 10 , 14 , 15 ], or intra-guild competition (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…seed dispersal, seed predation, seed caching) variables in fixed points at a small spatial scale may allow to assess their spatial variation and relationships over short distances. It is known that environmental variables may vary dramatically in small spatial scales [ 26 ], and some studies have recently questioned if they have a fixed effect over disperser’s behavior and seed fate, or their effects are strongly context dependent varying in space and time [ 13 , 24 , 25 , 27 ]. This suggests that animal foraging behavior may be also highly heterogeneous at a small spatial-scale and may partly account for the heterogeneous spatial patterns in seedling establishment in combination to environmental features [ 6 , 28 , 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Interplay among Acorn Abundance and Rodent Behavior Drives the Spatial Pattern of Seedling Recruitment in Mature Mediterranean Oak Forests

et al. 2015

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The patterns of seedling recruitment in animal-dispersed plants result from the interactions among environmental and behavioral variables. However, we know little on the contribution and combined effect of both kinds of variables. We designed a field study to assess the interplay between environment (vegetation structure, seed abundance, rodent abundance) and behavior (seed dispersal and predation by rodents, and rooting by wild boars), and their contribution to the spatial patterns of seedling recruitment in a Mediterranean mixed-oak forest. In a spatially explicit design, we monitored intensively all environmental and behavioral variables in fixed points at a small spatial scale from autumn to spring, as well as seedling emergence and survival. Our results revealed that the spatial patterns of seedling emergence were strongly related to acorn availability on the ground, but not by a facilitationeffect of vegetation cover. Rodents changed seed shadows generated by mother trees by dispersing most seeds from shrubby to open areas, but the spatial patterns of acorn dispersal/predation had no direct effect on recruitment. By contrast, rodents had a strong impact on recruitment as pilferers of cached seeds. Rooting by wild boars also reduced recruitment by reducing seed abundance, but also by changing rodent’s behavior towards higher consumption of acorns in situ. Hence, seed abundance and the foraging behavior of scatter-hoarding rodents and wild boars are driving the spatial patterns of seedling recruitment in this mature oak forest, rather than vegetation features. The contribution of vegetation to seedling recruitment (e.g. facilitation by shrubs) may be context dependent, having a little role in closed forests, or being overridden by directed seed dispersal from shrubby to open areas. We warn about the need of using broad approaches that consider the combined action of environment and behavior to improve our knowledge on the dynamics of natural regeneration in forests.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Interplay among Acorn Abundance and Rodent Behavior Drives the Spatial Pattern of Seedling Recruitment in Mature Mediterranean Oak Forests

et al. 2015

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“…Furthermore, distance to the seed source may alter rodent foraging activity and seed predation rates through changes in local seed availability (Gálvez, Kranstauber, Kays, & Jansen, ; Stapanian & Smith, ). Nonetheless, even though factors shaping dispersal distance by scatterhoarders, especially by rodents, are extensively studied (Jansen, Bongers, & Hemerik, ; Lichti, Steele, & Swihart, ; Moore, McEuen, Swihart, Contreras, & Steele, ; Sunyer, Espelta, Bonal, & Muñoz, ; Xiao, Zhang, & Wang, ), the actual influence of dispersal distance on recruitment probability is seldom quantified. The intertwined benefits of burial and transportation constrain our ability to understand mechanisms that drive the ecological interactions between plants and scatterhoarders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do benefits of seed dispersal and caching by scatterhoarders outweigh the costs of predation? An example with oaks and yellow‐necked mice

2019

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Numerous interactions between plants and animals vary in their outcome between antagonism and mutualism. Interactions between plants and scatter‐hoarding animals provide a prime example of this phenomenon. Scatterhoarders consume large quantities of seeds (potentially reducing plant establishment), yet also disperse seeds and bury them in shallow caches (potentially improving recruitment). Despite intense work on mechanisms that cause these interactions to shift along an antagonism–mutualism continuum, it remains difficult to quantify their final outcomes. We demonstrate how readily available field data can be used to reach this goal, with interactions between rodents and two oaks species (sessile oak Quercus petraea, and red oak Q. rubra) as an empirical example. Our approach consists of quantifying the net outcome of the interaction through collecting data on different vital rates (e.g. probability that cached seeds survive to germination, probability of seedling recruitment with and without rodents; near and far from conspecific trees; with and without seed pilferage) and assembling them in a simple mathematical model. We found that during the period of the study, interactions between scatter‐hoarding rodents and both focal oaks were antagonistic. Even though caching increased the likelihood of seedling establishment, this effect was not strong enough to compensate for the costs of seed predation. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the short‐distance transportation that is usually provided by small mammals benefited early oak recruitment. Synthesis. Our empirical results demonstrated that certain common assumptions – that caching by rodents invariably benefits plant recruitment; that improved seedling establishment after seed burial is sufficient to make plant–scatterhoarder interactions mutualistic; that transportation away from maternal plants is highly beneficial—do not always hold and should be tested rather than taken for granted.

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“…Knowledge of seed preferences also establishes a baseline from which to understand better how physical and behavioral factors affect foraging decisions of seed predators in arable fields. Animal selection of seeds is influenced by seed characteristics such as size, shape, hardness, chemical defense, and nutrient content (Kelrick et al 1986; Lundgren and Rosentrater 2007; Sundaram et al 2015; Vander Wall 2010); animal characteristics such as body size, metabolic rate, and physiological state (Kaufman and Collier 1981; Lichti et al 2015); and environmental context such as relative availability of seeds of different types (Sundaram et al 2016; Sunyer et al 2014; Theimer 2005) and spatiotemporal variation in foragers’ fear of predation (Brown and Kotler 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter Preference for Weed Seed and Waste Grain by Native Mice in Row-Crop Agriculture

Berl

Johnstone

et al. 2017

Weed Sci

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Consumption of weed seeds and waste grains by seed predators is an important ecosystem service that helps to regulate weed and volunteer crop populations in many agricultural systems. The prairie deer mouse is found in a variety of sparsely vegetated habitats throughout the central United States and is the dominant vertebrate seed predator in row-crop fields (corn and soybean) in this region. Evaluating the preferences of prairie deer mice for common agricultural weed seeds and waste grain is important to understand the potential ability of native mice to regulate volunteer crops and weed populations. We evaluated winter seed preference of deer mice using cafeteria-style feeding trials presented within row-crop fields in central Indiana and used compositional analysis to compare proportional consumption of seeds from five common agricultural weeds (common ragweed, common cocklebur, common lambsquarters, velvetleaf, and giant foxtail) and two grains (corn and soybean) during overnight feeding trials. Prairie deer mice significantly preferred corn to all other available seed types. Ragweed and soybean were also readily consumed and were preferred over seeds other than corn. Giant foxtail was intermediately preferred. Our results show that prairie deer mice have clear preferences for certain seeds commonly available in row-crop fields; mice likely contribute to reduction of waste grain and some weed seed populations.

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Seeding phenology influences wood mouse seed choices: the overlooked role of timing in the foraging decisions by seed-dispersing rodents

Cited by 32 publications

References 52 publications

The Interplay among Acorn Abundance and Rodent Behavior Drives the Spatial Pattern of Seedling Recruitment in Mature Mediterranean Oak Forests

The Interplay among Acorn Abundance and Rodent Behavior Drives the Spatial Pattern of Seedling Recruitment in Mature Mediterranean Oak Forests

Do benefits of seed dispersal and caching by scatterhoarders outweigh the costs of predation? An example with oaks and yellow‐necked mice

Winter Preference for Weed Seed and Waste Grain by Native Mice in Row-Crop Agriculture

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