鼠类对栓皮栎和锥栗种子的贮藏:验证高单宁假说

种子中的单宁影响鼠类的取食和贮藏策略.高单宁假说认为鼠类倾向于优先贮藏单宁含量高的种子、取食单宁含量低的种子.同域分布的鼠类对种子的取食和贮藏选择是否符合高单宁假说的预测尚缺乏足够的实验证据.本研究通过围栏实验研究了四川都江堰地区亚热带常绿阔叶林中的小泡巨鼠(Leopoldamyys edwardsi)、针毛鼠(Niv...

Seed-hoarding preferences of rodents for cork oak(Quercus variabilis) and Henry's chestnut(Castanea henryi): testing the high-tannin hypothesis

Tannin in seeds particularly affects the feeding and hoarding strategies of rodents. The high tannin hypothesis suggests that rodents prefer to eat more low-tannin food but hoard more high-tannin food for later consumption. However, the question of whether the hoarding and eating preferences of sympatric rodent species follow the high tannin hypothesis still remains poorly understood. In order to further test the high-tannin hypothesis, we investigated the feeding and hoarding preferences of sympatric rodent species (Leopoldamys edwardsi, Niveventer fulvescens, N. confucianus, Apodemus chevrieri, A. draco) on cork oak, Quercus variabilis and Henry's chestnut, Castanea henryi under enclosure condition in the Banruosi Experimental Forest in Dujiangyan City of Sichuan Province, Southwest China. Seeds of cork oak and Henry's chestnut show similar traits but varying tannin levels (11.7% versus 0.6%). The result showed that(1) the five sympatric rodents preferred to eat acorns of C. henryi rather than those of Q. variabili;2) larder hoarding N. fulvescens and N. confucianus preferred to larder-hoard C. henryi nuts;whereas scatter hoarding L. edwardsi and A. chevrieri tended to hoard C. henryi nuts;3) scatter hoarding A. draco which larder-hoard and scatter-hoard food preferred to scatter-hoard Q. variabili nuts and larder-hoard C. henryi nuts. These results failed to support the high-tanning hypothesis, indicating that seed-hoarding and eating preferences of sympatric rodents for seeds show interspecific differentiation, and do not necessarily follow the high tannin hypothesis.