The Influence of Nearest Seed Neighbors on Seed Removal in Deciduous Forests

Abstract

Abstract In the temperate deciduous forests of the northeastern United States, the majority of the dominant tree species disperse their seeds during the fall, causing a heterogeneous mixture of seeds to be present at a specific location at one time. Because these seeds vary in size and palatability to small mammals, some seed species, such as Quercus acorns, may alter the risk of removal of neighboring, less preferred species. The presence of a neighboring seed could attract seed predators, elevating the risk that a neighboring seed will be removed (apparent competition), or it could divert the attention of seed predators away from a neighboring seed (apparent mutualism). We evaluated the effects of nearest seed neighbors on the survival of 5 different tree species. Using logistic regression we determined whether the species or abundance of nearest neighbors caused changes in the risk of removal. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find any affect of neighboring seed species on the removal rates of o...