Post-dispersal seed recovery by animals: is it a plant- or an animal-driven process?

The ability of animals to find and consume hoarded seeds (i.e. seed recovery) is a key stage within the seed dispersal process. However, the ecology of seed recovery is still poorly understood. Here, we analyze the factors controlling seed recovery by scatter-hoarding rodents in an oak-dominated temperate forest. We examined the relative importance of intrinsic seed traits (i.e. plant-driven) and extrinsic seed factors (i.e. animal-driven) on the probability of seed recovery. We found that seed recovery is mainly driven by extrinsic seed factors, mostly related to animal behavior (pilfering frequency, microsite preference, predation risk, burial depth and cache size). Important intrinsic traits such as seed size, seed quality and seed-drop timing were, on average, of lower significance in the probability of seed recovery (2.8-times less important than extrinsic factors); only seed quality was an important intrinsic trait. On the other hand, larger and nutritionally more valuable seeds s...

动物搜寻并取食贮藏种子的能力（即种子回收（seed recovery））是种子传播过程中的关键环节。然而，目前学界对种子回收的生态学机制仍缺乏深入认知。本研究针对栎树占优的温带森林中的分散贮藏啮齿类（scatter-hoarding rodents），分析了调控其种子回收行为的影响因子。我们检验了种子内在性状（intrinsic seed traits，即植物驱动的因素）与种子外在因素（extrinsic seed factors，即动物驱动的因素）对种子回收概率的相对重要性。研究结果显示，种子回收主要由与动物行为密切相关的种子外在因素主导，具体涵盖盗食频率、微生境偏好、捕食风险、埋藏深度及贮藏点大小。诸如种子大小、种子品质与种子脱落时间等关键内在性状，其对种子回收概率的影响程度平均仅为外在因素的2.8倍；其中仅种子品质为具有显著影响的内在性状。另一方面，个体更大、营养更丰富的种子……