Interspecific Variation in the Olfactory Abilities of Granivorous Rodents

Wall, Stephen B. Vander; Beck, Maurie J.; Briggs, Jennifer S.; Roth, Julie K.; Thayer, Ted C.; Hollander, Jennifer L.; Armstrong, Jennifer M.

doi:10.1644/1545-1542(2003)084<0487:ivitoa>2.0.co;2

Cited by 50 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…First, agoutis might revisit seed caches to monitor rates of seed theft. Previous studies have shown that seed-caching birds and rodents respond to an increase in cache theft rates by increasing their rate of food caching (Vander Wall & Jenkins 2003;Dally et al 2006;Huang et al 2011; but see Dally et al 2006 for alternate responses to cache theft), suggesting that this information is important to hoarders. It is possible that the agoutis in our study surveyed their caches to assess theft risk, which would allow them to recover caches and move them to safer places if necessary (Hirsch et al 2012a, b;Jansen et al 2012), but whether these activities are a response to perceived theft risk is not known.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike larder hoarders, scatter-hoarding animals are not able to effectively guard their cached seeds (Vander Wall & Jenkins 2003). To reduce the likelihood of theft, scatter hoarders have been shown to space caches out in a manner that reduces theft (Galvez et al 2009), take seeds to areas of lower seed density (Hirsch et al 2012b), make false caches in the presence of potential thieves (Steele et al 2008) and deposit caches out of view of potential robbers (Dally et al 2005a).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This calibration allowed us to determine the distance between cache locations and passing animals directly from the photographs. We were careful not to disturb the cache location, as digging into the soil or moving leaves near the cache site can provide a cue for rodents to find the buried seed (Vander Wall et al 2003;Guimarães et al 2005). After the rope was removed, the motion-triggered camera took photos whenever animals passed in front, and agoutis generally trigger the camera from an average distance of 2.54 m (Rowcliffe et al 2010).…”

Section: Video Surveillance Of Agouti Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for cache surveillance by a scatter-hoarding rodent

2013

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Video Surveillance Of Agouti Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for cache surveillance by a scatter-hoarding rodent

2013

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“…(3) Identification of cached seeds should be possible without disturbing the cache. Opening caches to visually identify seeds could strongly affect seed fate since rodents are known to use soil Plant Ecol disturbance as a cue for finding seeds (Vander Wall et al 2003). (4) There should be little or no effect of the tag on disperser behavior, either negative or positive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A telemetric thread tag for tracking seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding rodents

2012

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The seeds of many tree species are dispersed more than once, and this secondary seed dispersal is believed to enhance seedling recruitment. However, the effectiveness of secondary seed dispersal has rarely been assessed because it is difficult to track seeds until they die or germinate. We describe a new technique that uses thread tags attached to radio transmitters (telemetric thread tags) to track longdistance multistep seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding rodents. These telemetric thread tags can be turned off with a magnet and are reactivated when the seed moves. This method allows for seed tracking with minimal cache disturbance or distance bias, over long time spans, multiple seed movements, and with few effects on animal behavior. We used telemetric thread tags to track seed dispersal of the palm tree Astrocaryum standleyanum in a Neotropical forest, and achieved near-complete recovery of dispersed seeds tracked over distances as far as 241 m. We were also able to record the recovery time and fate of cached seeds without disturbing caches. Neither the removal rate nor the dispersal distance differed between seeds with telemetric thread tags and thread-tagged seeds. We conclude that telemetric thread tags can be used to document secondary seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding animals with unprecedented efficacy and precision. Given the size of these tags relative to the size of seeds and their dispersers, this method is applicable to the majority of tree species that are secondarily dispersed by scatter-hoarding mammals.

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“…The second hypothesis -the 'theft-prevention hypothesis' -was that defleshing reduces post-dispersal seed predation by lowering the likelihood that seed-eating mammals recover cached seeds. Odour enhances cache detection by rodents and other macrosmatic mammals (Murie 1977, Stapanian & Smith 1978, Vander Wall 1991, Vander Wall et al 2003, and decaying fruit flesh and other soft material has a stronger odour than the seeds themselves. Defleshing might reduce cues that other animals use to find caches, and increase the recovery advantage for the cache owner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed predation and defleshing in the agouti-dispersed palmAstrocaryum standleyanum

et al. 2010

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Abstract:The agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) meticulously defleshes Astrocaryum standleyanum palm seeds before scatter hoarding. On Barro Colorado Island, Panama, we experimentally tested three hypotheses on how this behaviour could reduce seed predation to the mutual benefit of the tree and the rodent. The first and established hypothesisthat defleshing reduces seed predation by bruchid beetles by intercepting larvae -was rejected. Experiments in which manually defleshed seeds or entire fruits were incubated at different times showed that defleshing reduced bruchid infestation before fruit fall but not after fruit fall. The second hypothesis -that defleshing reduces cache pilferage by making seeds less conspicuous -was supported. An experiment in which intact fruits and manually defleshed seeds were placed in mimicked agouti caches and followed showed that seeds with flesh were pilfered at higher rates than defleshed seeds. The third hypothesis -that defleshing reduces post-dispersal infestation of cached seeds -was rejected. An experiment in which intact fruits and manually defleshed seeds were placed in mammal exclosures and later collected to assess infestation showed that burial reduced seed infestation but defleshing did not. Thus, seed defleshing reduced palm seed predation, but in a different way than previously believed. We also found that (1) bruchid beetles can be pre-dispersal rather than post-dispersal seed predators, (2) seed infestation by scolytid beetles may control bruchid larvae, and (3) scolytids rather than bruchids are the main invertebrate seed predators of this palm.

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Interspecific Variation in the Olfactory Abilities of Granivorous Rodents

Cited by 50 publications

References 20 publications

Evidence for cache surveillance by a scatter-hoarding rodent

Evidence for cache surveillance by a scatter-hoarding rodent

A telemetric thread tag for tracking seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding rodents

Seed predation and defleshing in the agouti-dispersed palmAstrocaryum standleyanum

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