Handling time and the evolution of caching behavior

Jorge, María Luisa S. P.; Brown, Joel S.; Merwe, Marius van der

doi:10.1093/beheco/arr205

Cited by 18 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…). More detailed research is additionally required on the energetic trade‐offs associated with food caching (Jorge, Brown & van der Merwe ). We were able to demonstrate some of the benefits that leopards obtained from caching, but we could not measure the costs of hoisting kills.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caching reduces kleptoparasitism in a solitary, large felid

Balme

Miller

Pitman

et al. 2017

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Food caching is a common strategy used by a diversity of animals, including carnivores, to store and/or secure food. Despite its prevalence, the drivers of caching behaviour, and its impacts on individuals, remain poorly understood, particularly for short-term food cachers. Leopards Panthera pardus exhibit a unique form of short-term food caching, regularly hoisting, storing and consuming prey in trees. We explored the factors motivating such behaviour among leopards in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa, associated with four not mutually exclusive hypotheses: food-perishability, consumption-time, resource-pulse and kleptoparasitism-avoidance. Using data from 2032 prey items killed by 104 leopards from 2013 to 2015, we built generalized linear mixed models to examine how hoisting behaviour, feeding time and the likelihood of a kill being kleptoparasitized varied with leopard sex and age, prey size and vulnerability, vegetation, elevation, climate, and the immediate and long-term risk posed by dominant competitors. Leopards hoisted 51% of kills. They were more likely to hoist kills of an intermediate size, outside of a resource pulse and in response to the presence of some competitors. Hoisted kills were also fed on for longer than non-hoisted kills. At least 21% of kills were kleptoparasitized, mainly by spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta. Kills were more likely to be kleptoparasitized at lower temperatures and if prey were larger, not hoisted, and in areas where the risk of encountering hyaenas was greatest. Female leopards that suffered higher rates of kleptoparasitism exhibited lower annual reproductive success than females that lost fewer kills. Our results strongly support the kleptoparasitism-avoidance hypothesis and suggest hoisting is a key adaptation that enables leopards to coexist sympatrically with high densities of competitors. We further argue that leopards may select smaller-sized prey than predicted by optimal foraging theory, to balance trade-offs between kleptoparasitic losses and the energetic gains derived from killing larger prey. Although caching may provide the added benefits of delaying food perishability and enabling consumption over an extended period, the behaviour primarily appears to be a strategy for leopards, and possibly other short-term cachers, to reduce the risks of kleptoparasitism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caching reduces kleptoparasitism in a solitary, large felid

Balme

Miller

Pitman

et al. 2017

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…Handling time costs of seeds (e.g. energy expenditure and/or predation risk) increase with seed coat hardness and, therefore, these seeds tend to be hoarded for future use rather than eaten immediately by animals, especially when foraging time is constrained and seed resources are limited or ephemeral (Jacob 1992; Jorge et al 2012). Spending more time on eating hard and large seeds may not only increase the possibility of predation risk, but also reduce food occupancy when food resources are ephemeral in the field (Lima & Dill 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the high nutrition hypothesis predicts that highly nutritious seeds are more likely to be hoarded by animals due to their higher energy rewards (Gerber et al 2004), suggesting that highly nutritious seeds have higher dispersal fitness than less nutritional seeds. The handling time hypothesis predicts that large and/or hard seeds are more likely to be hoarded by animals because of the high handling costs associated with eating these seeds (Jacobs 1992;Jorge et al 2012), suggesting that high handling cost seeds have higher dispersal fitness than low handling cost seeds. The seed odor hypothesis states that seeds that emit strong odor are less likely to be scatter-hoarded (Yi et al 2016), but are more likely to be pilfered by rodents Hollander et al 2012), suggesting that seed dispersal fitness varies at different stages of dispersal under animal mediation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivated walnut trees showed earlier but not final advantage over its wild relatives in competing for seed dispersers

Zhang

Chu

Zhang

2017

Integrative Zoology

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Little is known about seeding regeneration of cultivated trees compared to wild relatives in areas where seed dispersers are shared. Here, we investigated the differences in seed fates of cultivated walnut (Juglans regia) and wild Manchurian walnut (Juglans mandshurica) trees under rodent predation and dispersal. J. regia seeds have higher nutritional value (large size, mass and kernel mass) and lower mechanical defensiveness (thin endocarp) than J. mandshurica seeds. We tracked seeds of J. regia and J. mandshurica under both enclosure and field conditions to assess differences in competing for seed dispersers of the two co-occurring tree species of the same genus. We found that rodents preferred to harvest, eat and scatter-hoard seeds of J. regia as compared to those of J. mandshurica. Seeds of J. regia were removed and scatter-hoarded faster than those of J. mandshurica. Caches of J. regia were more likely to be rediscovered by rodents than those of J. mandshurica. These results suggest that J. regia showed earlier dispersal fitness but not the ultimate dispersal fitness over J. mandshurica in seeding regeneration under rodent mediation, implying that J. regia has little effect on seeding regeneration of J. mandshurica in the field. The effects of seed traits on seed dispersal fitness may vary at different dispersal stages under animal mediation.

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“…Rodents' decisions are usually framed within optimal foraging models where decisions should maximize food intake and reduce foraging costs (Lima & Dill 1990;Brown & Kotler 2004;Jorge, Brown & van der Merwe 2012). In this scenario, it is well documented that predation risk is a key foraging cost for small rodents (Sih 1980;Lima & Dill 1990;Brown, Laundr e & Gurung 1999) given that they are at the base of many trophic webs and so are a common prey of a wide array of terrestrial and aerial predators (Jedrzejewski, Rychlik & Jedrzejewska 1993;Taraborelli et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology of seed dispersal by small rodents: a role for predator and conspecific scents

et al. 2013

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Summary1. Seed-caching rodents play a key role in the ecology of seed dispersal by not only consuming but also dispersing seeds. Rodent foraging behaviour is usually framed within optimal models, which predict that their decisions should maximize food intake and minimize foraging costs. Although predation risk and seed pilferage by conspecifics have been envisaged as two potential costs, their relevance for seed-caching behaviour and seed dispersal has barely been addressed. 2. To test the effect of predation and pilferage risk on the patterns of seed predation/dispersal by rodents, we performed a field experiment using a tri-trophic-level model (plant-mice-carnivore; Quercus spp-Apodemus sylvaticus-Genetta genetta) and the scents of the predator and conspecifics as direct cues. The behaviour of mice was analysed with video cameras set for continuous recording on consecutive nights, and we used tagged acorns to assess the patterns of acorn predation and dispersal. 3. Our results revealed that rodents were able to discriminate between the scents of genet and conspecifics and modified their seed dispersal behaviour accordingly. Mice spent more time 'sniffing' in rodent cages than in genet cages, where they displayed more 'vigilance and freezing' behaviours. In sites with mice scents, acorns were dispersed at shorter distances and were less predated. Conversely, in sites with genet scents acorn removal was delayed. 4. These results show that chemosensory information on predators and conspecifics influences the foraging decisions of seed-caching rodents over short spatial and temporal scales. This might entail cascading effects on the regeneration of plants. In sites where rodents perceive the risk of predation, inefficient foraging behaviour may result in less successful seed dispersal. Conversely, the detection of conspecific scents may increase dispersal efficiency and seedling recruitment. 5. Ultimately, the relationships between two distant levels in trophic webs (plants-carnivores) appear intricate, since carnivores may affect seed dispersal by changing the foraging behaviour of their prey (the seed disperser). This indirect relationship should be considered as a new dimension of the ecology of seed dispersal by small rodents.

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Handling time and the evolution of caching behavior

Cited by 18 publications

References 37 publications

Caching reduces kleptoparasitism in a solitary, large felid

Caching reduces kleptoparasitism in a solitary, large felid

Cultivated walnut trees showed earlier but not final advantage over its wild relatives in competing for seed dispersers

The ecology of seed dispersal by small rodents: a role for predator and conspecific scents

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