Do insect-infested seeds contribute to forest regeneration? : revealing of the truth in rodent handling of the seeds

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25660119
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: KAJIMURA Hisashi 名古屋大学, 大学院生命農学研究科, 准教授 (10283425)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SONE Kouichi 鹿児島大学, 農学部, 教授 (60264454)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 種子散布 / 野ネズミ / 種子食昆虫 / 森林更新

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The main results of this study, rodent handling of insect-infested seeds of broad-leaved trees, are shown as follows. We classified Castanea crenata acorns into three categories: sound acorns, infested acorns with or without a larval emergence hole. We attached a small transmitter to each acorn (T-acorn). We put the T-acorns on a food station and located the position of each T-acorn using a receiver.
Apodemus speciosus, Apodemus argenteus and Eothenomys smithii transported the acorns, showing a similar handling pattern. In infested acorns with a larval emergence hole, the distance was shorter, the depth was greater and the predation intensity was higher. These acorns were hoarded in rodent nest more frequently in comparison to sound acorns. In contrast, infested acorns without a larval emergence hole, in which larvae still remained, were treated like sound acorns by the rodents. These results suggest that larval existence inside acorns might affect the fate of the infested acorns.

Free Research Field

森林保護学