Abstract
The effectiveness of six species of rodents as dispersers of singleleaf piñon pine (Pinus monophylla) was investigated in field enclosures. The rodent species were Panamint kangaroo rat (Dipodomys panamintinus), Great Basin pocket mouse (Perognathus parvus), pinyon mouse (Peromyscus truei), deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), least chipmunk (Tamias minimus), and white-tailed antelope ground squirrel (Ammospermophilus leucurus). Five measures of seed harvesting and caching behavior were assessed and used to calculate the effect of species on the probability of effective dispersal (i.e., movement of seeds to potential establishment sites) of piñon pine seeds. These measures were proportion of seeds harvested, proportion of harvested seeds that were scatter hoarded, relative dispersion of scatter-hoarded seeds, seedling emergence and seedling establishment. To evaluate the effects of the last two variables, a 2-year study of seed germination and seedling establishment was conducted in the field. Seedling survival was 72–90% for seedlings emerging from 1–4 cm deep but was markedly lower from surface caches and for depths >4 cm. All seedlings in the open microsite perished before the end of the first year, whereas 38–97% of seedlings under shrubs survived. Cache size did not affect seedling survival over the 2 years, but large caches reduced the total number of potential establishment sites. All six species harvested over 90% of the piñon seeds presented and scatter hoarded from 31% (pocket mouse) to 66% (chipmunk) of the seeds they harvested. Piñon mice and deer mice distributed seeds to more caches sites (i.e., put fewer seeds in caches) than the other species and, consequently, created more potential establishment sites. All species scatter hoarded seeds at depths suitable for seedling emergence, but pocket mice and piñon mice cached under shrubs more than the other species, the microhabitat where seedlings had the greatest probability of establishing. Factors that had the greatest effect on the probability of effective dispersal were microhabitat selection and cache size.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Balda RP, Kamil AC (1989) A comparative study of cache recovery by three corvid species. Anim Behav 38:486–495
Balda RP, Kamil AC, Bednekoff PA, Hile AG (1997) Species differences in spatial memory performance on a three-dimensional task. Ethology 103:47–55
Callaway RM, DeLucia EH, Moore D, Nowak R, Schlesinger WH (1996) Competition and facilitation: contrasting effects of Artemisia tridentata on desert vs. montane pines. Ecology 77:2130–2141
Chambers JC (2001) Pinus monophylla establishment in an expanding Pinus-Juniperus woodland: environmental conditions, facilitation, and interacting factors. J Veg Sci 12:27–40
Chambers JC, MacMahon JA (1994) A day in the life of a seed: movements and fates of seeds and their implications for natural and managed systems. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 25:263–292
Daly M, Behrends PR, Wilson MI, Jacobs LF (1992) Behavioral modulation of predator risk–moonlight avoidance and crepuscular compensation in a nocturnal desert rodent, Dipodomys merriami. Anim Behav 44:1–9
Drivas EP, Everett RL (1988) Water relations characteristics of competing singleleaf pinyon seedlings sagebrush nurse plants. For Ecol Manage 23:27–37
Everett RL, Koniak S, Budy JD (1986) Pinyon seedling distribution among soil surface microsites. Research paper INT-363. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Ogden, Utah
Herrera CM (1982) Seasonal variation in the quality of fruits and diffuse coevolution between plants and avian dispersers. Ecology 63:773–778
Herrera CM (1985) Determinants of plant-animal coevolution: the case of mutualistic dispersal of seeds by vertebrates. Oikos 44:132–141
Herrera CM, Jordano P (1981) Prunus mahaleb and birds: the high-efficiency seed dispersal system of a temperate fruiting tree. Ecol Monogr 51:203–218
Howe HF (1977) Bird activity and seed dispersal of a tropical wet forest tree. Ecology 58:539–550
Howe HF (1989) Scatter- and clump-dispersal and seedling demography: hypothesis and implications. Oecologia 79:417–426
Hutchins HE, Lanner RM (1982) The central role of Clark‘s nutcracker in the dispersal and establishment of whitebark pine. Oecologia 55:192–201
Jacobs LF (1992) Memory for cache locations in Merriam‘s kangaroo rats. Anim Behav 43:585–593
Janzen DH (1970) Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. Am Nat 104:501–528
Jenkins SH, Breck SW (1998) Differences in food hoarding among six species of heteromyid rodents. J Mamm 79: 1221–1233
Lanner RM (1981) The piñon pine: a natural and cultural history. University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nev.
Leaver LA, Daly M (2001) Food caching and differential cache pilferage: a field study of coexistence of sympatric kangaroo rats and pocket mice. Oecologia 128:577–584
Ligon JD (1978) Reproductive interdependence of piñon jays and piñon pines. Ecol Monogr 48:111–126
McMurray MH, Jenkins SH, Longland WS (1997) Effects of seed density on germination and establishment of a native and an introduced grass species dispersed by granivorous rodents. Am Midl Nat 138:322–330
Munger JC, Bowers MA, Jones WT (1983) Desert rodent populations: factors affecting abundance, distribution, and genetic structure. Great Basin Nat Mem 7:91–116
Olson DJ, Kamil AC (1995) Performance of four seed-caching corvid species in operant tests of nonspatial and spatial memory. J Comp Psychol 109:173–181
Price MV, Brown JH (1983) Patterns of morphology and resource use in North American desert rodent communities. Great Basin Nat Mem 7:117–134
Price MV, Jenkins SH (1986) Rodents as seed consumers and dispersers. In: Murray DR (ed) Seed dispersal. Academic, Orlando, Fla., pp 191–235
Reichman OJ (1983) Behavior of desert heteromyids. Great Basin Nat Mem 7:77–90
Reid N (1991) Coevolution of mistletoes and frugivorous birds? Aust J Ecol 16:457–469
Rey PJ, Alcantara JM (2000) Recruitment dynamics of a fleshy-fruited plant (Olea europaea): connecting patterns of seed dispersal to seedling establishment. J Ecol 88:622–623
Saito S (1983) On relations of the caching by animals on the seed germination of Japanese stone pine, Pinus pumila. Bull Shiretoko Mus 5:23–40
Schupp EW (1993) Quantity, quality, and the effectiveness of seed dispersal by animals. Vegetatio 107/108:15–29
Sun C, Ives AR, Kraeuter HJ, Moermond TC (1997) Effectiveness of three turacos as seed dispersers in a tropical montane forest. Oecologia 112:94–103
Thompson RS (1990) Late Quaternary vegetation and climate in the Great Basin. In: Betancourt JL, Van Devender TR, Martin PS (eds) Packrat middens: the last 40,000 years of biotic change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Ariz., pp 200–239
Tomback DF (1982) Dispersal of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) seeds by Clark‘s nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), a mutualism hypothesis. J Anim Ecol 51:451–468
Vander Wall SB (1988) Foraging of Clark‘s nutcrackers on rapidly changing pine seed resources. Condor 90:621–631
Vander Wall SB (1990) Food hoarding in animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.
Vander Wall SB (1991) Mechanisms of cache recovery by yellow pine chipmunks. Anim Behav 41:851–863
Vander Wall SB (1993) A model of caching depth: implications for scatter hoarders and plant dispersal. Am Nat 141:217–232
Vander Wall SB (1995) Dynamics of yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) seed caches: underground traffic in bitterbrush seeds. Ecoscience 2:261–266
Vander Wall SB (1998) Foraging success of granivorous rodents: effects of variation in seed and soil water on olfaction. Ecology 79:233–241
Vander Wall SB (2000) The influence of environmental conditions on cache recovery and cache pilferage by yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus) and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Behav Ecol 11:544–549
Vander Wall SB (2002) Masting in animal-dispersed pines facilitates seed dispersal. Ecology 83:3508–35160
Vander Wall SB, Balda RP (1981) Ecology and evolution of food-storage behavior in conifer-seed caching corvids. Z Teirpsychol 56:217–242
Vander Wall SB, Joyner JW (1998) Recaching of Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) seeds by yellow pine chipmunks (Tamias amoenus): potential effects on plant reproductive success. Can J Zool 76:154–162
Vander Wall SB, Thayer TC, Hodge JS, Beck MJ, Roth JK (2001) Scatter-hoarding behavior of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). West North Am Nat 61:109–113
Wheelwright NT, Orians GH (1982) Seed dispersal by animals: contrasts with pollen dispersal, problems of terminology, and constraints on coevolution. Am Nat 119:402–413
Zar JH (1997) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Acknowledgements
We thank Maurie Beck, Jenny Briggs, Julie Roth, Ted Thayer, Mark Skudlarek, Mike Sears, Brennan McKnight, Bev Hollander, and especially David and Jaylyn Hollander who assisted us in many ways. Jeanne Chambers, Rich Rust, Doug Levey, and Mary Price made very helpful comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hollander, J.L., Vander Wall, S.B. Effectiveness of six species of rodents as dispersers of singleleaf piñon pine (Pinus monophylla). Oecologia 138, 57–65 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1393-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-003-1393-2