Seed Predation of Apodemus latronum on 18 Plant Species in Northwest Yunnan
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Abstract
Different species of seed predation was studied in northwest Yunnan province, China from September to October in 2004. Eighteen species belonging to 17 genus and 15 families were collected from the field. The experiment was done in two habitats with different disturbance intensities. Two kinds of seed densities were chosen: one had three and the other had 15 seeds in each plate. Three treatments were set: rodents excluded with metal mesh, ants excluded with butter and open with no mesh and butter. The results showed that the rodent (Apodemus latronum) was the only seed consumer and dispersal feeding was observed. Seed predation rates were significantly higher in the light disturbance habitat (44.1%) compared to the heavy disturbance habitat (40.4%) (F1,430=7.78, P<0.01). Seeds with high density had higher predation rates (446%) than seeds with low density (39.9) (F1,430=13.16, P<0.001). The attraction of different kinds of seeds to predators was significantly different (F17,414=106.69, P<0.001). Predators preferred the seeds of Pinus armandii, Dipsacus asper and Aconitum chungdianensis, but not the seeds of Sabina squamata, Piptanthus concolor, Cotoneaster sp and Iirs bulleyana. There was no significant relationship between seed size and seed predation (P>0.05). There was also no significant difference in predation between seeds with different hardness (P>0.05).
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