Incorporating Cache Management Behavior into Seed Dispersal: The Effect of Pericarp Removal on Acorn Germination
Selecting seeds for long-term storage is a key factor for food hoarding animals. Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus) remove the pericarp and scatter hoard sound acorns of Quercus mongolica over those that are insect-infested to maximize returns from caches. We have no knowledge of whether these chipmunks remove the pericarp from acorns of other species of oaks and if this behavior benefits seedling establishment. In this study, we tested whether Siberian chipmunks engage in this behavior with acorns of three other Chinese oak species, Q. variabilis, Q. aliena and Q. serrata var. brevipetiolata, and how the dispersal and germination of these acorns are affected. Our results show that when chipmunks were provided with sound and infested acorns of Quercus variabilis, Q. aliena and Q. serrata var. brevipetiolata, the two types were equally harvested and dispersed. This preference suggests that Siberian chipmunks are incapable of distinguishing between sound and insect-infested acorns. However, Siberian chipmunks removed the pericarp from acorns of these three oak species prior to dispersing and caching them. Consequently, significantly more sound acorns were scatter hoarded and more infested acorns were immediately consumed. Additionally, indoor germination experiments showed that pericarp removal by chipmunks promoted acorn germination while artificial removal showed no significant effect. Our results show that pericarp removal allows Siberian chipmunks to effectively discriminate against insect-infested acorns and may represent an adaptive behavior for cache management. Because of the germination patterns of pericarp-removed acorns, we argue that the foraging behavior of Siberian chipmunks could have potential impacts on the dispersal and germination of acorns from various oak species.
Correction: Incorporating Cache Management Behavior into Seed Dispersal: The Effect of Pericarp Removal on Acorn Germination
Selecting seeds for long-term storage is a key factor for food hoarding animals. Siberian chipmunks (Tamias sibiricus) remove the pericarp and scatter hoard sound acorns of Quercus mongolica over those that are insect-infested to maximize returns from caches. We have no knowledge of whether these chipmunks remove the pericarp from acorns of other species of oaks and if this behavior benefits seedling establishment. In this study, we tested whether Siberian chipmunks engage in this behavior with acorns of three other Chinese oak species, Q. variabilis, Q. aliena and Q. serrata var. brevipetiolata, and how the dispersal and germination of these acorns are affected. Our results show that when chipmunks were provided with sound and infested acorns of Quercus variabilis, Q. aliena and Q. serrata var. brevipetiolata, the two types were equally harvested and dispersed. This preference suggests that Siberian chipmunks are incapable of distinguishing between sound and insect-infested acorns. However, Siberian chipmunks removed the pericarp from acorns of these three oak species prior to dispersing and caching them. Consequently, significantly more sound acorns were scatter hoarded and more infested acorns were immediately consumed. Additionally, indoor germination experiments showed that pericarp removal by chipmunks promoted acorn germination while artificial removal showed no significant effect. Our results show that pericarp removal allows Siberian chipmunks to effectively discriminate against insect-infested acorns and may represent an adaptive behavior for cache management. Because of the germination patterns of pericarp-removed acorns, we argue that the foraging behavior of Siberian chipmunks could have potential impacts on the dispersal and germination of acorns from various oak species. Copyright: ß 2014 Yi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Denitrification of PVA-immobilized denitrifying photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides
Abstract A newly isolated denitrifying strain, Rhodobacter sphaeroides NII2 was immobilized in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) gel, and the properties of the cells in the gel were examined. The immobilized cells had low or almost no denitrification activity, but the cells were activated by incubation in light with culture medium for denitrification containing 0.5% nitrate and no other nitrogen source. Cells grown in the dark were activated by incubation at an earlier stage and to a higher rate than the light-grown cells. The activation was markedly enhanced in the PVA gel with a low cell concentration. The immobilized cells consumed nitrate with a temporary accumulation of NO 2 and evolved nitrogen gas. The immobilized cells could use various organic compounds as electron donors for denitrification. Thus, the immobilized cells were applied to a continuous treatment of synthetic wastewater using an aparatus devised by this laboratory. The results showed an efficient removal of NO 3 -N from the test water.