Effects Of Rodent On The Forest Seeds In Shrub Habitat In Mt. Wangwu Area, Jiyuan, China

Effects of Rodents on Fate of Forest Seeds in Shrub Habitat in Mt. Wangwu Area, Jiyuan, China Candidate:Shuliao TIANSupervisor:Prof. Jiqi LU Asso. Prof. Zhenlong WANG (Department of Bioengineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou,450001)(Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou,450001)Seeds can play important role for reproduction, dispersal, and broadened distribution of plant propagation, even for the restoration of vegetation and resisting the bad environment. On one hand, food hoarding by rodents makes the hoarder themselves surviving over food shorted period and prepare energy for mating and reproduction, on the other hand, the seeds buried by rodents may germinate and establish seedlings under the proper conditions after escaping predation. It has been well demonstrated that scatter hoarding rodents will exert positive role for restoration and community succession in deforested area. Considering the safety of cached food and avoiding stolen by other animals, rodents usually choose some safe sites to store food. Shrub habitat is not only an ideal environment for rodents’ inhabiting and a good place for food storage, but also the transitional stage of the vegetation to woodland succession process. So it has an important ecological significance on studying effects on fate of forest seeds from rodent.In Mt. Wangwu area of Jiyuan, China, we studied the food hoarding behavior of rodents and community characteristics of rodents according to the field investigation experiment in shrub habitats. Meanwhile, we studied the seed rain of Quercus variabilis in the secondary forest habitats. The main results and conclusions of this research are listed below: 1) The main rodent species were Apodemus peninsula, Niviventer confucianus, Apodemus agrarius, Cricetulus triton in the shrub habitat of Mt. Wangwu, and the dominant species was Apodemus peninsulae and Niviventer confucianus; the populations of rodents was significant different on the seasonal and inter-annual; The number of rodents was significant larger in autumn than in summer, and also, in summer than in spring.2) The seed rain of cork oak started in early August and finished in early October;seed rain is composed mainly by the type of abortion, insects, and the integrity of three kinds of seeds; the mast seeding appear alternately.3) The transportation, eaten and hoarded seeds of cork oak by rodents were significantly different among years; more than92%of the seeds are spread within in15m.97.48%of the cork oak seed burial point with one seed; the rate of seedling establishment of cork oak was2.4%.4) The transportation rate of Prunus armeniaca seeds by rodents was the fastest in autumn, tnen in summer and spring, repectively; the dispersal distances was the longest in autumn, then in spring and summer; the storage of seeds was the most in autumn, while the eaten seeds was more than that in spring and summer. There was only one Prunus armeniaca seed in76.14%of the storage point; the rate of seedling establishment of Prunus armeniaca was0.83%.5) The removal rate of Prunus armeniaca seeds by rodents was faster than that that of cork oak; the disperal distances of Prunus armeniaca seeds were longer than that of seeds of cork oak, and espectively84.77%and95.31%of the seeds within15m; rodents preferred to eat cork oak seeds and while hoard Prunus armeniaca seeds; there was only one cork oak seed in97.48%of the storage point; the rate of seedling establishment of cork oak was higher than that of Prunus armeniaca.