Interaction between Seed Detectability and Seed Preference Affects Harvest Rates of Granivorous Rodents

Longland, William S.; Dimitri, Lindsay A.

Interaction between Seed Detectability and Seed Preference Affects Harvest Rates of Granivorous Rodents

2018

Longland, William S. | Dimitri, Lindsay A.

Granivorous rodents commonly exhibit preferences for seeds of particular plant species. However, among buried seeds that are available, rodents may find that alternate, less desirable seeds are more easily located by olfaction than preferred seeds. Seeds of Indian ricegrass (Achnatherum hymenoides) are a highly preferred food resource for seed-caching desert heteromyid rodents. We tested relative abilities of heteromyids to locate buried caches of Indian ricegrass seeds versus seeds of another plant species (cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum) that are common in heteromyid diets at a western Nevada field site. Rodents located more cheatgrass than Indian ricegrass seed caches in the field when seeds were unaltered. When ground, however, detectability of preferred Indian ricegrass seeds increased, presumably due to release of volatile compounds inside seeds, and more ground Indian ricegrass seed caches were found and removed compared with ground cheatgrass caches. Grinding cheatgrass seeds did not affect harvest rates of cheatgrass caches. Results of a laboratory cache removal experiment using 2 heteromyid species, Merriam's kangaroo rats (Dipodomys merriami) and long-tailed pocket mice (Chaetodipus formosus), mirrored field cache removal results. Dispersal of Indian ricegrass seeds and establishment of new seedlings occurs largely through emergence of seedlings from heteromyid scatterhoard caches. Our results suggest that Indian ricegrass seeds may have been selected for reduced olfactory detectability to minimize the probability that they are recovered by rodents for later consumption once they have been cached.

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