Effect of seed availability on hoarding behaviors of Siberian chipmunk (Tamias sibiricus) in semi-natural enclosures

Abstract

Mast seeding is a common phenomenon in many plant species. It is widely believed to be an adaptive strategy for large-seeded plants to escape predation by small rodents. At population level, effects of mast seeding have been well investigated but studies at individual level are still rare. In this study, using semi-natural enclosures, we investigated the effects of seed availability (simulating mast seeding) on seed hoarding behaviors of the Siberian chipmunk Tamias sibiricus on Pinus koraiensis seeds in a temperate forest, northeastern China. We found that T. sibiricus per se tended to disperse and scatter-hoard more seeds of P. koraiensis when provided with high level of seeds. With increase of seed availability, the amount of seed consumption, cache size and seed dispersal distance, cache survival tended to be larger. Our results indicate that mast seeding can benefit seed dispersal and regeneration of P. koraiensis at both individual and population levels.