Journal
INTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY
Volume 16, Issue 1, Pages 97-108Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12450
Keywords
per capita seed availability; predator dispersal hypothesis; predator satiation hypothesis; rodents; seed dispersal
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [3177247, U1701246]
- key project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [KJZD-EW-TZ-L01, XDB11050300]
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The study found that mast seeding benefits the seedling recruitment of Armeniaca sibirica by increasing dispersal intensity, supporting the predator dispersal hypothesis. However, high seed abundance may lead to decreased benefits to trees, which could be a result of mismatch between seed and animal abundance.
Masting is an evolutionary strategy used by plants to promote seed survival and/or seed dispersal under animal predation, but its effects on seedling establishment in field condition are rarely tested by long-term experiments incorporating combined effects of seed and animal abundance. Here, we tracked seed production, rodent-mediated seed dispersal, and seedling establishment in Armeniaca sibirica from 2005 to 2014 in a warm-temperate forest in northern China, and examined the effects of seed abundance and per capita seed availability on seed fate and seedling recruitment rate. Our results showed that seed abundance or per capita seed availability generally benefited the seedling recruitment of A. sibirica through increasing dispersal intensity, supporting predator dispersal hypothesis. However, seedling recruitment showed satiated or even dome-shaped association with per capita seed availability, suggesting the benefit to trees would be decreased when seed abundance were too high as compared to rodent abundance (a satiated effect). Our results suggest that the predator dispersal and satiation effects of masting on seedling recruitment can operate together in one system and conditionally change with seed and animal abundance.
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