Masting promotes transformation from predation to mutualism in an oak-weevil-rodent system  

作　　者：Hongmao Zhang Hongyu Niu Michael ASteele Liqing Peng Huimin He Aoqiang Li Xianfeng Yi Hongjun Li Zhibin Zhang 

机构地区：[1]Institute of Evolution and Ecology,School of Life Sciences,Central China Normal University,Wuhan 430079,China [2]State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture,Institute of Zoology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China [3]Department of Biology,Wilkes University,Wilkes-Barre 18766,USA [4]School of Life Sciences,Qufu Normal University,Qufu 273165,China

出　　处：《Science China(Life Sciences)》2024年第7期1514-1524,共11页中国科学（生命科学英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32170508,31772471);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(CCNU22LJ003)。

摘　　要：The significance of ecological non-monotonicity(a function whose first derivative changes signs)in shaping the structure and functions of the ecosystem has recently been recognized,but such studies involving high-order interactions are rare.Here,we have proposed a threetrophic conceptual diagram on interactions among trees,rodents,and insects in mast and non-mast years and tested the hypothesis that oak(Quercus wutaishanica)masting could result in increased mutualism and less predation in an oak-weevil-rodent system in a warm temperate forest of China.Our 14-year dataset revealed that mast years coincided with a relatively low rodent abundance but a high weevil abundance.Masting not only benefited seedling recruitment of oaks through increased dispersal by rodents but also a decrease in predation by rodents and weevils,as well as an increase in the overwintering survival of rodents.Masting appeared to have increased weevil survival by reducing predation of infested acorns by rodents.These results suggest that masting benefits all participants in the plant-insect-rodent system by increasing mutualism and reducing predation behavior(i.e.,a non-monotonic function).Our study highlights the significance of masting in maintaining the diversity and function of the forest ecosystem by facilitating the transformation from predation to mutualism among trophic species.

关 键 词：antagonism ecological non-monotonicity MUTUALISM seed-weevil-rodent system seedling recruitment rodent overwintering survival weevil survival 

分 类 号：Q958[生物学—动物学]