| Title | The effect of seed size on seed fate in a subtropical forest, southwest of China |
| Author | Lang, Zhengwei |
| Publication | IFOREST-BIOGEOSCIENCES AND FORESTRY |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Corresponding Author | Wang, B |
| Abstract | Scatter-hoarding rodents acting both as seed predators and dispersers usually play an important role in seed dispersal of many plant species. Seed size is thought to essentially affect rodent scatter-hoarding processes. However, studies to date have frequently shown many controversial results regarding the effect of seed size on rodent foraging. In this study, we explored how seed size affects scatter-hoarding rodent foraging preferences in order to identify the possible reasons underlying the conflicting results reported in the scientific literature. We surveyed rodent seed predation and dispersal of five common tree species in a natural subtropical forest located in southwestern China along two seasons which were different in both seed abundances and rodent communities. Our results showed that a similar effect of seed size on rodent scatter-hoarding behavior existed in both seasons, although the seeds in spring were harvested more quickly than in autumn. Larger seeds of the small-seeded species (Castanopsis wattii, Lithocarpus hancei, Machilns yunnanensis and Lithocarpus pachyphyllus) were harvested, removed, and finally cached by the rodents more frequently. For the largest-seeded species (Lithocarpus xylocarpus), seeds with smaller size were preferred during the rodent scatterhoarding processes. Our findings support the hypothesis that scatter-hoarding rodents preferably feed on large seeds at early stage of seed dispersal, but only up to a certain threshold of seed size. |
