The Effects of Seed Water Content on the Foraging Success and Cache Management Behavior of Rodents

种子水分含量对啮齿动物觅食成功和贮藏管理行为的影响动物与种子的相互作用方式是种群和群落生态学的重要研究热点，但物理环境在这些相互作用中的作用往往被忽视。土壤的水分含量会影响啮齿动物用嗅觉探测埋藏的种子的能力。种子在下雨后从土壤中吸收水分。啮齿动物在潮湿的土壤中找到种子的速度比在干燥土壤中找到种子的速度快得多。这项研究项目包括四个现场实验，旨在揭示种子/土壤水如何影响个体啮齿动物如何找到埋藏的种子。实验的主题是：(1)空间记忆和嗅觉作为缓存检索和管理机制的作用，(2)不同啮齿动物品种的比较嗅觉敏感性，(3)停留时间对埋在潮湿土壤中的种子可探测性的影响，以及(4)缓存的大小和深度如何影响种子的可探测性。

ABSTRACT 97-07098 Vander Wall The effects of seed water content on the foraging success and cache management behavior of rodents The ways that animals interact with seeds are important focuses of population and community ecology, but the role of the physical environment in these interactions has often been ignored. The water content of the soil influences the ability of rodents to detect buried seeds using olfaction. Seeds imbibe water from the soil after it has rained. Rodents find seeds in moistened soil significantly faster than seeds in dry soil. This research project consists of four field experiments designed to reveal how seed/soil water affects how individual rodents find buried seed caches. Topics of experiments are: (1) the role of spatial memory versus olfaction as mechanisms for cache retrieval and management, (2) the comparative olfactory sensitivities of different rodent varieties, (3) the effect of residence time on the detectability of seeds buried in moist soil, and (4) how cache size and depth influence detectability of seeds.