Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks |
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Authors: | Yueqin Yang Xianfeng Yi Fei Yu |
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Institution: | (1) Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiguan Street, Xining, 810008, China;(2) College of Agriculture, Henan University of Science and Technology, Xining Road 35, Luoyang, 471003, China;(3) State Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management, Institute of Zoology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beichen West Road, Beijing, 100101, China; |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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