Radicle pruning by seed‐eating animals helps oak seedlings absorb more soil nutrient

Yi, Xin; Wang, Minghui; Xue, Chunlai; Ju, Mengyao

doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12489

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Consequently, 40-50% of the cotyledon dry mass was lost 10 weeks after germination. These results coincide with the previous studies on a variety of white oak species [22][23][24]36,37]. Compared to Q. variabilisand Q. serrataproducing nondormant acorns, acorns of Q. accutissima and C. glauca remained dormant and failed to protrude the robust taproots throughout the autumn and winter.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…While seed germination schedules (e.g., delayed seed germination and/or seed dormancy) usually cause seed dispersal differed in time, i.e., temporal dispersal [19,20]. Acorns of most white oak species and some intermediate oaks exhibit no dormancy and germinate rapidly in autumn [21][22][23][24]. In contrast, acorns of red oak species exhibit a delayed germination requiring a period of cold stratification before germination is possible [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nondormant Acorns Show Higher Seed Dispersal Effectiveness Than Dormant Ones

Yang

2022

Forests

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Seed dormancy has been thought to be an important survival strategy to tune the seed dispersal timing. Although a theoretical trade-off between seed dormancy and dispersal is often proposed, empirical field evidence of the trade-off between seed dormancy, spatial dispersal, and seedling recruitment is still lacking. Here, we tracked seed dispersal of several Fagaceae species exhibiting different levels of dormancy both in artificial enclosures and in the field. We presented evidence that oak species with nondormant acorns rather than those bearing dormant species exhibit reduced spatial dispersal. Despite the empirical evidence that seed germination is negatively correlated with spatial dispersal, nondormancy rather than dormancy showed higher seed dispersal effectiveness, demonstrating a negative correlation between seed dormancy and dispersal fitness. Our study, using the oak-rodent system, may provide solid evidence of a dispersal–germination trade-off between spatial and temporal correlation, highlighting the ecological role of seed germination schedule in seed dispersal and life-history evolution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nondormant Acorns Show Higher Seed Dispersal Effectiveness Than Dormant Ones

Yang

2022

Forests

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“…We infer that radicle-pruning behavior may be more widespread in rodents and in a wide range of regions (Jansen et al, 2006;Cao et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2012). Furthermore, our results showed that radicle pruning did not negatively affect seed germination, suggesting that radicle pruning may not serve as an effective strategy for hoarding rodents to counter rapid germination of white oak species (Yang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2016;Yi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Radicle Pruning Of Sympatric Rodent Speciesmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…In North America, for example, several rodent species (including southern flying squirrels ( Glaucomys volans ), eastern chipmunks ( Tamias striatus ), and white-footed mice ( Permomycus leucopus )) selectively cache RO acorns over WO ( Steele et al., 2006 ). Likewise, these and other species in both North America and Asia rely on other strategies to manipulate scatter hordes of early germinating seeds, such as pruning acorns from developing taproots or repeated pruning of taproots or epicotyls ( Jansen et al., 2006 ; Cao et al., 2011 ; Yi et al., 2021 ). Therefore, it is not clear whether sympatric rodents adopt different foraging strategies for seed germination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral adaptation of sympatric rodents to early germination of oak acorns: radicle pruning and embryo excision

et al. 2023

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The seed germination schedule is a key factor affecting the food-hoarding behavior of animals and the seedling regeneration of plants. However, little is known about the behavioral adaptation of rodents to the rapid germination of acorns. In this study, we provided Quercus variabilis acorns to several rodent species to investigate how food-hoarding animals respond to seed germination. We found that only Apodemus peninsulae adopted embryo excision behavior to counteract seed germination, which is the first report of embryo excision in nonsquirrel rodents. We speculated that this species may be at an early stage of the evolutionary response to seed perishability in rodents, given the low rate of embryo excision in this species. On the contrary, all rodent species preferred to prune the radicles of germinating acorns before caching, suggesting that radicle pruning is a stable and more general foraging behavior strategy for food-hoarding rodents. Furthermore, scatter-hoarding rodents preferred to scatter-hoard and prune more germinating acorns, whereas they consumed more nongerminating acorns. Acorns with embryos excised rather than radicles pruned were much less likely to germinate than intact acorns, suggesting a behavioral adaptation strategy by rodents to the rapid germination of recalcitrant seeds. This study provides insight into the impact of early seed germination on plant–animal interactions.

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“…Under predation pressure by rodents, seeds have evolved into a series of strategies to escape rodent predation, such as resistance (Perea et al., 2011 ; Steele et al., 1993 ; Xiao et al., 2007 ), tolerance (Chen et al., 2012 ; Yang et al., 2023 ; Zhang et al., 2016 ; Zhang & Zhang, 2008 ), high capacity of regeneration (Cao et al., 2011 ) or seed cloning (Wang et al., 2021 ) or fast germination (Li et al., 2023 ). The tolerance mechanism allows seeds to maintain the ability to germinate and grow into seedlings even after being partially consumed, as long as the embryo remains intact (Mack, 1998 ; Vallejo‐Marin et al., 2006 ; Yi et al., 2021 ). Tolerance of seeds depends on the extent of damage, location of damage and species traits (Vallejo‐Marin et al., 2006 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical seed damage, not rodent's saliva, accelerates seed germination of trees in a subtropical forest

Zhu,

Yang,

Teng

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Many tree species adopt fast seed germination to escape the predation risk by rodents. Physical seed damage and the saliva of rodents on partially consumed seeds may act as cues for seeds to accelerate germination process. However, the impacts of these factors on seed germination rate and speed remain unclear. In this study, we investigated such impacts on the germination rate and speed (reversal of germination time) of four tree species (Quercus variabilis, Q. serrata, Q. acutissima, Q. glauca) after partial consumption by four rodent species (Leopoldamys edwards, Niviventer fulvescens, N. confucianus, Apodemus draco), through a series of experiments. We also examined how seed traits may affect the seed damage degree by rodents by analyzing the relationship between the germination rate and time of rodent‐damaged seed and the traits. We found that, artificially‐ and rodent‐damaged seeds exhibited a significantly higher seed germination rate and speed, compared to intact seeds. Also, the rodent saliva on seeds showed no significant effect on seed germination rate and speed. Furthermore, we observed significant positive correlations between several seed traits (including the seed mass, coat thickness, and protein content) and the seed germination rate and speed. These correlations are likely due to their beneficial traits countering seed damage by rodents. Overall, our results highlight the significant role of physical seed damage by rodents (rather than their saliva) in facilitating seed germination of tree species, and potential mutualism between rodents and trees. Additionally, our results may have some implications in forest restoration, such that intentionally sowing or dispersing slightly damaged seeds by humans or drones may increase the likelihood of successful seed regeneration.

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Radicle pruning by seed‐eating animals helps oak seedlings absorb more soil nutrient

Cited by 6 publications

References 44 publications

Nondormant Acorns Show Higher Seed Dispersal Effectiveness Than Dormant Ones

Nondormant Acorns Show Higher Seed Dispersal Effectiveness Than Dormant Ones

Behavioral adaptation of sympatric rodents to early germination of oak acorns: radicle pruning and embryo excision

Physical seed damage, not rodent's saliva, accelerates seed germination of trees in a subtropical forest

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