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

	Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks
	Yang, Yueqin ; Yi, Xianfeng ; Yu, Fei
刊名	ACTA ETHOLOGICA ; Hu, XG; Wu, BH; Bi, ZG; Liu, DC; Zhang, LQ; Yan, ZH; Wei, YM; Zheng, YL.Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks,ACTA ETHOLOGICA,2012,15(1):9-14
	2012-04-01
英文摘要	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.
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.nwipb.ac.cn/handle/363003/3690]
专题	西北高原生物研究所_中国科学院西北高原生物研究所
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, Hu, XG; Wu, BH; Bi, ZG; Liu, DC; Zhang, LQ; Yan, ZH; Wei, YM; Zheng, YL.Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks,ACTA ETHOLOGICA,2012,15(1):9-14,2012.
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.
MLA	Yang, Yueqin,et al."Repeated radicle pruning of Quercus mongolica acorns as a cache management tactic of Siberian chipmunks".ACTA ETHOLOGICA (2012).