Sprouting as a gardening strategy to obtain superior supplementary food: evidence from a seed‐caching marine worm

Abstract

Abstract. Only a handful of non-human animals are known to grow their own food by cultivating high-yield fungal or algal crops as staple food. Here we report an alternative strategy utilized by an omnivorous marine worm, Hediste diversicolor, to supplement its diet: gardening by sprouting seeds. In addition to having many other known feeding modes, we showed using video recordings and manipulative mesocosm experiments that this species can also behave like gardeners by deliberately burying cordgrass seeds in their burrows, which has been previously shown to reduce the loss of seeds to water. These seeds, however, are protected by the seed husk, and we used feeding experiments to show that they were not edible for H. diversicolor until they had sprouted or the seed husk had been artificially removed. Additionally, sprouts were shown to be highly nutritious, permitting higher growth rates in H. diversicolor than the low-quality basal food, detritus. We propose both a proximate cause (seed husk as a physical barrier) and ultimate cause (nutritional demand) for this peculiar feeding behavior. Our findings suggest that sprouting may be a common strategy used by seed-collecting animals to exploit nutrients from well-protected seeds.

Vegetation recovery on neighboring tidal flats forms an Achilles' heel of saltmarsh resilience to sea level rise

“…These quadrats were positioned along a 6 m‐long string (marked every 1 m) with each end fixed at a PVC tube. The sowed seeds were first sterilized by freezing them in a −20°C freezer for 2 weeks to prevent seed loss due to germination (Zhu et al ). These seeds were then dyed with Rose Bengal to be distinguished from the ambient seeds and were waterlogged to mimic the naturally settled cordgrass seeds (Zhu et al ).…”

Multiple Environmental Variables Affect Germination and Mortality of an Annual Salt Marsh Pioneer: Salicornia procumbens

“…Salt marsh seeds and seedlings need to be able to germinate and survive in a dynamic environment. In earlier studies, the effect of one or two particular parameters on germination and survival of intertidal pioneer vegetation was often studied in laboratory experiments: including sediment dynamics (Boorman et al 2001;Cao et al 2018), inundation regime (Boorman et al 2001;Egan and Ungar 2000), salinity (Keiffer et al 1994), rainfall (Xie et al 2019), temperature (Khan et al 2000;Ungar 1967), and/or bioturbation (van Regteren et al 2017;Zhu et al 2016). Field experiments are much scarcer, but are important as they can provide valuable information on realistic combinations of these environmental parameters.…”

Large‐scale ecosystem engineering by flamingos and fiddler crabs on West‐African intertidal flats promote joint food availability

“…Ecosystem engineering could have the following benefits: ensure safety (the beaver Castor canadensis; Wright et al 2002), create shelter (shelter-building caterpillars; Lill and Marquis 2003), improve living conditions (seagrass; Bos et al 2007), ensure food availability (sprouting seeds by bristle worms; Zhu et al 2016), and promote the quality of food (through soil compaction; Veldhuis et al 2014). Food supply is a key determinant of habitat choice (Piersma 2012) and consumer demographics (Krebs 1996).…”