Study on Finding Seeds by Eutamias sibiricus in Semi-natural Enclosures
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    Abstract:

    Seed recovery processes were investigated with Eutamias sibiricus in the semi-natural enclosures in Dongfanghong Forest Dailing District of Heilongjiang Province in August 2009 and 2010.In the beginning of experiments,we constructed 16 semi-natural enclosures with one nest in each enclosure which is 10 m×10 m× 2.5 m in size and one E.sibiricus was released in it.All the enclosures with natural vegetation were covered by net to protect the animal from predator.In the first 3 days,we laid 30 seeds of Pinus koraiensis in the center of enclosure every day to check the discovery rate for each animal.Then,we choose 8 very active one as target animal to test the seed recovery process.In the formal experiment,we laid 30 tagged seeds evenly in the half enclosure area against the nest side in the first day; buried 30 tagged seeds 2 cm depth evenly in the same region in the second day; buried 60 marked seeds alternately with 1,2 and 3 seeds in each cache in the third day to see whether cache size influences seed recovery rate.In the fourth day,we buried 30 tags only unevenly to test whether animal can locate seeds by vision; fifth day,we buried 30 untagged seeds to see whether the animal can find seed by smell.We used three seed species (P.koraiensis,Corylus heterophylla and C.mandshurica) in this study.Our results showed no difference in seed discovery rates regardless ground surface releasing and burial.However,seed recovery rates varied significantly with seed species and cache sizes.The recovery rates of "false seeds" were 3.75% (P.koraiensis),1.67% (C.heterophylla) and 42.92% (C.mandshurica),indicating the significance of vision.The recovery rates between handling caches and chipmunk’s own caches were not significantly different.These results showed that E.sibiricus rely on olfaction and vision to recover seeds under the semi-natural enclosures and olfaction might play an important role in finding seeds.

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NIU Ke-Kun, JIAO Guang-Qiang, YU Fei, YI Xian-Feng. 2011. Study on Finding Seeds by Eutamias sibiricus in Semi-natural Enclosures. Chinese Journal of Zoology, 46(1): 45-51.

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  • Received:July 14,2010
  • Revised:November 02,2010
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