Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks

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	Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks
	Yang, Yueqin 1,2; Yi, Xianfeng 1,3; Yu, Fei 1
	2012-04-01
发表期刊	ACTA ETHOLOGICA
ISSN	0873-9749
卷号	15 期号:1 页码:9-14
文章类型	Article
摘要	Many rodents hoard seeds as a means of ensuring food availability during scarcity. Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus) feed on acorns of white oak Quercus mongolica and hoard them for future use. Such caches may deteriorate due to the early germination of the acorns in autumn, which can be inhibited by radicle pruning or embryo excision. Siberian chipmunks are found to frequently prune the radicles of germinated acorns of Q. mongolica; however, whether this behavior is a kind of cache management tactic remains unclear. Here, we performed semi-natural enclosure and field experiments to test the role of radicle pruning in cache management of T. sibiricus. We found that T. sibiricus preferred non-germinated acorns and tended to prune radicles of germinating acorns when scatter-hoarding them, but did not perform the behavior of embryo excision by squirrels. Both semi-natural enclosure and field experiments showed that T. sibiricus not only pruned radicles repeatedly but removed radicles varied in length from acorns, which significantly postponed acorn germination and radicle growth. These observations suggest that radicle pruning would be an evolutionary tactic for cache management of Siberian chipmunks.; Many rodents hoard seeds as a means of ensuring food availability during scarcity. Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus) feed on acorns of white oak Quercus mongolica and hoard them for future use. Such caches may deteriorate due to the early germination of the acorns in autumn, which can be inhibited by radicle pruning or embryo excision. Siberian chipmunks are found to frequently prune the radicles of germinated acorns of Q. mongolica; however, whether this behavior is a kind of cache management tactic remains unclear. Here, we performed semi-natural enclosure and field experiments to test the role of radicle pruning in cache management of T. sibiricus. We found that T. sibiricus preferred non-germinated acorns and tended to prune radicles of germinating acorns when scatter-hoarding them, but did not perform the behavior of embryo excision by squirrels. Both semi-natural enclosure and field experiments showed that T. sibiricus not only pruned radicles repeatedly but removed radicles varied in length from acorns, which significantly postponed acorn germination and radicle growth. These observations suggest that radicle pruning would be an evolutionary tactic for cache management of Siberian chipmunks.
关键词	Siberian Chipmunks Radicle Pruning Acorn Storage Quercus Mongolica
WOS标题词	Science & Technology ; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
关键词[WOS]	FOOD PERISHABILITY ; SEEDLING GROWTH ; TREE SQUIRRELS ; GREY SQUIRRELS ; TAMIAS-AMOENUS ; SMALL MAMMALS ; DISPERSAL ; OAK ; GERMINATION ; ADAPTATION
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Behavioral Sciences ; Zoology
WOS类目	Behavioral Sciences ; Zoology
WOS记录号	WOS:000303014800002
引用统计	被引频次：25[WOS] [WOS记录] [WOS相关记录]
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://210.75.249.4/handle/363003/3690
专题	中国科学院西北高原生物研究所
作者单位	1.Henan Univ Sci & Technol, Coll Agr, Luoyang 471003, Peoples R China 2.Chinese Acad Sci, NW Inst Plateau Biol, Xining 810008, Peoples R China 3.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Zool, State Key Lab Integrated Pest Management, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Yang, Yueqin,Yi, Xianfeng,Yu, Fei. Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks[J]. ACTA ETHOLOGICA,2012,15(1):9-14.
APA	Yang, Yueqin,Yi, Xianfeng,&Yu, Fei.(2012).Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks.ACTA ETHOLOGICA,15(1),9-14.
MLA	Yang, Yueqin,et al."Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks".ACTA ETHOLOGICA 15.1(2012):9-14.

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