Intermediate spatial variations on acorn predation shapes Holm oak establishment within a Mediterranean landscape context

Abstract

There is an emerging interest in analyzing the effects of seed predation and its consequences for plant recruitment across the landscape. The main goals of this study were to assess (1) whether seed predation varies among spatial levels of the landscape, (2) whether there are differences between pre- and post-dispersal seed predation and, (3) whether these differences are due to different animal species with different perception of the landscape and thus different activity ranges. The study system was a mosaic landscape composed of patches of different vegetation types (oak and pine woodlands and shrublands) and microhabitats intermingled. Pre-dispersal acorn predation varied between patches, trees, and predator species. Wild boar rooting activity was widely distributed through the landscape and mainly focused on pine woodlands while rodents′ feeding activity was mainly centered on local scales within oak woodland patches. The patch spatial level consistently appears to be the key explanatory variable for pre- and post-dispersal acorn predation. Furthermore, the post-dispersal percentage of seed predation and emergence also differed among spatial levels. Within the same vegetation type, different microhabitats did not show significant differences in rates of survival to acorn predation and then on germination or emergence. These results suggest that seed predators influence the spatial patterns of Quercus ilex populations by reshaping the seed shadow within the landscape, mainly by differences among patches. So, the landscape appears to behave as a mixed mosaic with valuable patches for plant recruitment (with low seed predation) intermingled with bad quality patches where the dispersed seeds more often disappear and thus, the recruitment fails.