Behavioral adaptation of sympatric rodents to early germination of oak acorns: radicle pruning and embryo excision.

ABSTRACT: The seed germination schedule is a key factor affecting the food-hoarding behavior of animals and the seedling regeneration of plants. However, little is known about the behavioral adaptation of rodents to the rapid germination of acorns. In this study, we provided Quercus variabilis acorns to several rodent species to investigate how food-hoarding animals respond to seed germination. We found that only Apodemus peninsulae adopted embryo excision behavior to counteract seed germination, which is the first report of embryo excision in nonsquirrel rodents. We speculated that this species may be at an early stage of the evolutionary response to seed perishability in rodents, given the low rate of embryo excision in this species. On the contrary, all rodent species preferred to p

SUBMITTER: Zhang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10203563 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature