Journal
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Volume 86, Issue 4, Pages 851-857Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.07.028
Keywords
directed seed dispersal; scatter-hoarding rodent; Siberian chipmunk; soil water content; Tamias sibiricus
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31172101, 30930016]
- Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University [NCET-12-0693]
- Harvard Forest
- Harvard University
- H. Fenner Research Endowment of Wilkes University
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We examined the effects of soil water content (SWC) on scatter-hoarding decisions of Siberian chipmunks, Tamias sibiricus, when caching acorns of Quercus mongolica. We hypothesized that higher SWC, which favours germination in this and similar oaks, would also be favoured for caching and cache recovery in this rodent. We conducted three sets of experiments: one in small arenas, a second in larger seminatural enclosures, and a third in the field with free-ranging chipmunks in a temperate forest of the Xiaoxing'anling Mountains of northeast China. Siberian chipmunks selectively cached acorns in soil of higher SWC and recovered more observer-made artificial caches where SWC was higher. We argue the selective scatter hoarding in soil of higher SWC represents a form of directed dispersal that may be relatively common in other systems, especially where SWC is unevenly distributed, and further suggest that this may represent an important rodenteseed interaction that varies with climate. (C) 2013 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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