Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.

The mutualistic interaction between scatter-hoarding rodents and their seed plants is highly complex yet poorly understood. Plants may benefit from the seed dispersal behavior of rodents, as long as seed consumption is minimized. In parallel, rodents may maximize foraging efficiency and cache high-q...

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Autores principales:	Bo Wang, Jin Chen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/48228385e0094c1587f391dc17f9f0d5
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:48228385e0094c1587f391dc17f9f0d52021-11-18T07:35:45ZScatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0026424https://doaj.org/article/48228385e0094c1587f391dc17f9f0d52011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22046284/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The mutualistic interaction between scatter-hoarding rodents and their seed plants is highly complex yet poorly understood. Plants may benefit from the seed dispersal behavior of rodents, as long as seed consumption is minimized. In parallel, rodents may maximize foraging efficiency and cache high-quality resources for future consumption. Defensive compounds, such as tannins, are thought to be a major mechanism for plant control over rodent behavior. However, previous studies, using naturally occurring seeds, have not provided conclusive evidence supporting this hypothesis. Here, we test the importance of tannin concentrations on the scatter-hoarding behavior of rodents by using an artificial seed system. We combined feeding trials and field observations to examine the overall impact of seed tannin concentrations on rodent behavior and health. We found that rodents favored seeds with an intermediate amount of tannin (~5%) in the field. Meanwhile, in rodents that were fed a diet with different tannin content, only diets with high tannin content (25%, 15%, and 10%) caused a significant negative influence on rodent survival and health. Significant differences were not found among treatments with tannin levels of 0-5%. In contrast to many existing studies, our results clearly demonstrate that scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly 'astringent' food. In the co-evolutionary arms race between plants and animals, our results suggest that while tannins may play a significant role in reducing general predation levels by the faunal community, they have no precise control over the behavior of their mutualistic partner. Instead, the two partners appear to have reached an evolutionary point where both parties receive adequate benefits, with the year-to-year outcome being dependent on a wide range of factors beyond the control of either partner.Bo WangJin ChenPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 10, p e26424 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Bo Wang Jin Chen Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
description	The mutualistic interaction between scatter-hoarding rodents and their seed plants is highly complex yet poorly understood. Plants may benefit from the seed dispersal behavior of rodents, as long as seed consumption is minimized. In parallel, rodents may maximize foraging efficiency and cache high-quality resources for future consumption. Defensive compounds, such as tannins, are thought to be a major mechanism for plant control over rodent behavior. However, previous studies, using naturally occurring seeds, have not provided conclusive evidence supporting this hypothesis. Here, we test the importance of tannin concentrations on the scatter-hoarding behavior of rodents by using an artificial seed system. We combined feeding trials and field observations to examine the overall impact of seed tannin concentrations on rodent behavior and health. We found that rodents favored seeds with an intermediate amount of tannin (~5%) in the field. Meanwhile, in rodents that were fed a diet with different tannin content, only diets with high tannin content (25%, 15%, and 10%) caused a significant negative influence on rodent survival and health. Significant differences were not found among treatments with tannin levels of 0-5%. In contrast to many existing studies, our results clearly demonstrate that scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly 'astringent' food. In the co-evolutionary arms race between plants and animals, our results suggest that while tannins may play a significant role in reducing general predation levels by the faunal community, they have no precise control over the behavior of their mutualistic partner. Instead, the two partners appear to have reached an evolutionary point where both parties receive adequate benefits, with the year-to-year outcome being dependent on a wide range of factors beyond the control of either partner.
format	article
author	Bo Wang Jin Chen
author_facet	Bo Wang Jin Chen
author_sort	Bo Wang
title	Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
title_short	Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
title_full	Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
title_fullStr	Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
title_full_unstemmed	Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
title_sort	scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/48228385e0094c1587f391dc17f9f0d5
work_keys_str_mv	AT bowang scatterhoardingrodentspreferslightlyastringentfood AT jinchen scatterhoardingrodentspreferslightlyastringentfood
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Scatter-hoarding rodents prefer slightly astringent food.

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