Deciphering the effects of disperser assemblages and seed mass on patterns of seed dispersal in a rodent community  

作　　者：Aleksandra WRÓBEL Rafal ZWOLAK 

机构地区：[1]Department of Systematic Zoology,Institute of Environmental Biology,Adam Mickiewicz University,Poland

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2017年第6期457-467,共11页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：supported by(Polish)Na­tional Science Centre grant 2012/04/M/NZ8/00674.

摘　　要：The sizes of both seed dispersers and seeds are traits that are likely to interact to influence seed fate in many synzoochoric plant species.Here,we examined whether members of a granivorous rodent community consist­ing of species of different body size vary in their effectiveness as seed dispersers,and how this relationship may be altered by seed size.We marked northern red oak(Quercus rubra)acorns with plastic tags and placed them in size-selective rodent exclosures.The exclosures allowed differential access of rodent groups based on dif­ferent body size:(i)small(e.g.Peromyscus spp.);(ii)small and medium(e.g.Tamias striatus);and(iii)small,medium and large(e.g.Sciurus carolinensis)species of rodents.Acorn removal did not differ among exclosure types,but more seeds were missing when removed by small rodents,probably because of larderhoarding.The treatments did not influence the relative frequency of acorn consumption.However,small rodents cached con­siderably fewer and partially ate more acorns than the other 2 groups.The mean dispersal distance was the lon­gest for cages with medium openings,intermediate for cages with large openings and the shortest for cages with small openings.Acorn mass positively affected the probability of caching and this relationship was unaffected by exclosure type.In conclusion,granivorous rodents of different body sizes strongly differed in their interac­tions with acorns,with small rodents acting primarily as acorn predators and medium and large species contrib­uting significantly more to dispersal of red oaks.

关 键 词：acorn dispersal initial seed fate plant-animal interactions rodent community scatterhoarding 

分 类 号：R36[医药卫生—病理学]