Eastern gray squirrels are consistent shoppers of seed traits:insights from discrete choice experiments
作者机构：Department of Forestry and Natural ResourcesPurdue UniversityWest LafayetteIndianaUSA Department of Agricultural EconomicsPurdue UniversityWest LafayetteIndianaUSA
出 版 物：《Integrative Zoology》 (整合动物学（英文版）)
年 卷 期：2018年第13卷第3期
页 面：280-296页
核心收录：
学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0905[农学-畜牧学] 0906[农学-兽医学] 09[农学] 0901[农学-作物学]
主 题：cached resources discrete choice experiment resource selection trade-offs trait-dependent
摘 要：Seeds of many hardwood trees are dispersed by scatter-hoarding rodents,and this process is often mediated by the traits of *** numerous studies have linked seed traits to seed preference by rodents,little is known about how rodents forage for seeds when multiple desirable and undesirable seed traits are available ***,we adopt a novel method of designing choice experiments to study how eastern gray squirrels(Sciurus carolinensis)select for 6 traits(caloric value,protein content,tannin concentration,kernel mass,dormancy period and toughness of shell)among *** n=426 seed-pair presentations,we found that squirrels preferentially consumed seeds with short dormancy or tougher shells,and preferentially cached seeds with larger kernel mass,tougher shells and higher tannin *** incorporating random effects,we found that squirrels exhibited consistent preferences for seed traits,which is likely due to the fitness consequences associated with maintaining cached ***,we found that squirrels were willing to trade between multiple traits when caching seeds,which likely results in more seed species being cached in the ***,our approach allowed us to compute the relative values of different seed traits to squirrels,despite covariance among studied traits across seed *** addition,by investigating how squirrels trade among different seed traits,important insights can be gleaned into behavioral mechanisms underlying seed caching(and,thus,seed survival)dynamics as well as evolutionary strategies adopted by plants to attract seed *** describe how discrete choice experiments can be used to study resource selection in other ecological systems.
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