Journal
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Volume 78, Issue 6, Pages 1327-1333Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.08.015
Keywords
cache pilferage; camera trapping; Central American agouti; Dasyprocta punctata; food availability; optimal cache spacing; scatter hoarding; seed dispersal; tropical forest
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [NSF-DEB 0717071]
- Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research [NWO-ALW 863-07-008]
- Marco Polo Fund
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Optimal cache spacing theory predicts that scatter-hoarding animals store food at a density that balances the gains of reducing cache robbery against the costs of spacing out caches further. We tested the key prediction that cache robbery and cache spacing increase with the economic value of food: the ratio of food to consumer abundance. We quantified cache pilferage and cache spacing by the Central American agouti, Dasyprocta punctata, in the tropical forest of Barro Colorado Island, Panama, across 10 1 ha plots that encompassed a more than 100-fold range in the availability of Astrocaryum palm seeds, the agouti's principal food. We found that caches were pilfered at higher rates in plots with lower seed availability, and that agoutis cached seeds further away and into lower densities where seed availability was lower. Food scarcity apparently increased the pressure of food competitors on caches, stimulating agoutis to put more effort into caching seeds to create lower cache densities, fully consistent with theory. We conclude that the optimal cache density depends not only on the nutritional value of food but also on the economic value, which may vary in space as well as time. (C) 2009 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available