TY - JOUR
T1 - Incomplete recovery of seeds from scatterhoards by granivorous rodents
T2 - Implications for plant establishment
AU - Geluso, Keith
AU - Longo, Peter C.
AU - Harner, Mary J.
AU - White, Jeremy A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge for permitting research and providing housing accommodations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Granivorous rodents are important components of ecosystems not only because they consume seeds but also because some aid in seed dispersal through seed-caching behaviors. Some rodents bury seeds in shallow pits throughout territories, called scatterhoards, that individuals recover, pilfer, or transfer to other caches. We suspect some single-seed caches in environments represent missed seeds from reclaiming or pilfering caches. We documented the sloppiness of seed removal from scatterhoards of soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) seeds by Ord's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ordii). We quantified the frequency and location of seeds remaining. In an experiment with artificial caches of three sizes, kangaroo rats harvested 51% of caches after one night, and 53% had incomplete recovery with at least one seed remaining. The greater the number of seeds in caches, the greater frequency of incomplete recovery. In another experiment with natural and artificial caches, 75% of caches were excavated after 8 days, with at least 70% having at least one seed remaining. Regardless of original cache size, a single seed represented the mode for seeds remaining. Incomplete recovery of seeds likely benefits plant establishment, potentially significantly in some systems. Remaining seeds, especially those buried at bottoms of caches, likely will stay undetected in landscapes, yielding propagules for subsequent plant generations. Soapweed yucca has large but light, flat wind-dispersed seeds, and removal of caches with smaller seeds might have greater frequency of missed seeds during recovery and pilfering by rodents. Our results suggest that scatter-hoarding granivores also contribute to plant establishment by leaving limited numbers of seeds behind when removing caches, at least in some systems.
AB - Granivorous rodents are important components of ecosystems not only because they consume seeds but also because some aid in seed dispersal through seed-caching behaviors. Some rodents bury seeds in shallow pits throughout territories, called scatterhoards, that individuals recover, pilfer, or transfer to other caches. We suspect some single-seed caches in environments represent missed seeds from reclaiming or pilfering caches. We documented the sloppiness of seed removal from scatterhoards of soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) seeds by Ord's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys ordii). We quantified the frequency and location of seeds remaining. In an experiment with artificial caches of three sizes, kangaroo rats harvested 51% of caches after one night, and 53% had incomplete recovery with at least one seed remaining. The greater the number of seeds in caches, the greater frequency of incomplete recovery. In another experiment with natural and artificial caches, 75% of caches were excavated after 8 days, with at least 70% having at least one seed remaining. Regardless of original cache size, a single seed represented the mode for seeds remaining. Incomplete recovery of seeds likely benefits plant establishment, potentially significantly in some systems. Remaining seeds, especially those buried at bottoms of caches, likely will stay undetected in landscapes, yielding propagules for subsequent plant generations. Soapweed yucca has large but light, flat wind-dispersed seeds, and removal of caches with smaller seeds might have greater frequency of missed seeds during recovery and pilfering by rodents. Our results suggest that scatter-hoarding granivores also contribute to plant establishment by leaving limited numbers of seeds behind when removing caches, at least in some systems.
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U2 - 10.1002/ece3.8523
DO - 10.1002/ece3.8523
M3 - Article
C2 - 35127033
AN - SCOPUS:85123824272
SN - 2045-7758
VL - 12
JO - Ecology and Evolution
JF - Ecology and Evolution
IS - 1
M1 - e8523
ER -