title: Does animal-mediated seed dispersal facilitate the formation of Pinus armandii-Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata forests?
abstract: The Pinus armandii and Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata mixed forest is one of the major forest types in the Qinling Mountains, China. P. armandii is considered to be a pioneer species during succession and it is usually invaded by late successional Q. aliena var. acuteserrata. However, the mechanism that underlies its invasion remains unclear. In the present study, we tracked seed dispersal of P. armandii and Q. aliena var. acuteserrata using coded plastic tags in the western, middle and eastern Qinling Mountains to elucidate the invasion process in the mixed forests. Our results indicated that the seeds of both P. armandii and Q. aliena var. acuteserrata were removed rapidly in the Qinling Mountains, and there were no differences in the seed removal rates between the two species. There were significant differences in rodent seed-eating and caching strategies between the two tree species. For P. armandii, seeds were more likely to be eaten in situ than those of Q. aliena var. acuteserrata in all plots. By contrast, the acorns of Q. aliena var. acuteserrata were less frequently eaten in situ, but more likely to be removed and cached. Q. aliena var. acuteserrata acorns had significantly longer dispersal distances than P. armandii seeds in all plots. Although P. armandii seeds were less likely to be dispersed into the Q. aliena var. acuteserrata stands, over 30% of the released acorns were transported into the P. armandii stands where they established five seedlings. Based on the coupled recruitment patterns of P. armandii and Q. aliena var. acuteserrata, we suggest that the animal-mediated seed dispersal contributes to the formation of Pinus armandii-Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata forests.
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Dexiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
authors.forename: Xianfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Yakun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: Hongwu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
authors.forename: XinPing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D028223:Pinus; D029963:Quercus; D058614:Seed Dispersal / Q000502:physiology*; D014197:Trees