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9 February 2023 Multiple interacting factors affect seed predation in an African savanna small mammal community
Ivana Schoepf, Neville Pillay
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Abstract

Multiple factors affect seed predation, including seed traits, habitat type, seed predator community composition, predation risk, and seasonality. How all these factors and their interactions simultaneously influence seed predation has rarely been tested experimentally in situ. Here, we assessed the relative contribution of the factors driving seed predation in an African savanna rodent community, comprising six ecologically similar species. We first conducted seed preference tests under semicaptive conditions to determine which seed trait (size, shell hardness, nutritional content) influenced seed predation. Then we performed in situ experiments to establish whether rodent community composition (diversity and abundance), seed type, habitat type, seasonality, predation risk, and their interactions affected seed predation. Semicaptive experiments showed that rodents preferred smaller, lighter seeds, containing relatively high water content. In situ experiments showed that predation risk was an important factor influencing seed predation, with rodents removing considerably more seeds in areas where predation risk was lower. Habitat type also affected seed predation, but its effects were strongly linked to predation risk. In areas where predation risk was higher, rodents removed more seeds in more heterogeneous habitats, whereas in areas where predation risk was lower, rodents removed more seeds in less heterogeneous habitats. Seasonality was the least influential factor shaping seed predation. Rodents removed more seeds in winter compared to other seasons, but only in areas where predation risk was low. We provide experimental evidence for a multifaceted approach to understanding the relative contribution of the different factors driving variation in seed predation in natural communities and show that these factors are likely hierarchically arranged.

Ivana Schoepf and Neville Pillay "Multiple interacting factors affect seed predation in an African savanna small mammal community," Journal of Mammalogy 104(3), 446-456, (9 February 2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac127
Received: 10 April 2022; Accepted: 7 December 2022; Published: 9 February 2023
KEYWORDS
African savanna
body size
competitive exclusion
interspecific competition
optimal foraging
resource partitioning
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