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Behavioural Responses in Seed-hoarding of Sympatric Rodents to Catastrophic Pilferage

Author: HuangZhiYuan
Tutor: WuFaQing；ZhangHongMao
School: Central China Normal University
Course: Zoology
Keywords: Dongling Mountain region Community Avoid stealing food Tolerate stealing food Gender differences
CLC: Q958
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 43
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Abstract

Food storage Many animals respond to a shortage of food resources to adapt behavior and help to ensure their survival and reproduction. Food storage There are two main ways: centralized storage and distributed storage. Protect hoarded food in order to take advantage of when the shortage of food resources, food storage and a sign of success and key evolutionary force hoarding behavior. Other animals (homogeneous or heterogeneous) the Pirates of food store food losses. The stolen food risks in order to maximize the reduction of storage food hoarding animals developed a series of anti-piracy strategy of eating behavior, summed up mainly three types of to avoid stealing food, to prevent stealing food and tolerate stealing food. Avoid stealing food Store food in stealing food difficult to find and place hoarding animals. Usually taken by animal hoarding behavior strategy: Select hidden hoarding Location; transform the store ways, evacuation food storage density, to avoid stealing food concentration areas (such as around the food source); food storage to avoid stealing food; The found stolen eater will store food quickly disposed of; repeated handling and storage. Prevent stealing food hoarding animals stealing food by fighting and expulsion behavioral strategies to protect food storage, usually including two forms: block and driven stealing food to enter the the hoarding area (field); prevent stealing food near the storage points . Tolerate stealing food hoarding animals can tolerate the presence of stealing food and some storage food stolen food, stealing food is reciprocal, more common in the cluster life, family life or overlap in the field of hoarding animals. Existing research focuses on hoarding animals stealing food behavior at the individual or population level, mainly deals with the hoarding of animals for the same individual or dissimilar individuals stealing food and stealing food strategy, less involved with the community level on the same domain stealing food distribution animal hoarding and anti-piracy eating behavior; same time, the existing research conclusions when food storage part of the stolen food or to face stealing food risk behavior response, very few studies have reported storage of food was disastrous Pirates of food (all stolen food) or stealing food animal hoarding behavior response; Furthermore, most studies are conducted under the condition in the the indoor fence or semi-natural fence, rarely under natural conditions, the case study and its conclusions difficult to fully reflect the animal behavior under natural conditions. This study selected Dongling Mountain, Beijing common rodents the rock the squirrel (Sciurotamias davidianus) the the the R. confucianus (Niviventer confucianus), North Korea Apodemus CApodemus peninsulae) hamster (Tscherskia triton), Apodemus mice (Apodemus agrarius) as the object of study . They dispersed storage or (and) centralized storage behavior. Semi-natural fence and field conditions, by artificially completely removed their storage wild apricot (Prunus armeniaca) seed, to simulate hoarded food the disastrous Pirates of food (all stolen food) to study them in responding to store food catastrophic Pirates after eating behavior response. The purpose is to investigate the behavioral responses to cope with the hoarded food catastrophic stealing food of sympatric rodents, explore the community level on the same domain distribution the hoarding animals Anti Pirates of food behavior convergence and differentiation. Found that when the hoarded food, stealing food, several mice have increased the strength of the hoarding, especially to increase the intensity of scattered hoarding food, but these changes and there is no difference between intraspecific sex. The field experiment also hoarded food, stealing food catastrophic, the distance of the rodents seeds of wild apricot storage again increased significantly. These results indicate that the increased hoarding strength may sympatric rodents to deal with common behavioral strategies hoarded food catastrophic stealing food, but also that dispersed storage than centralized storage may be more conducive to avoid storage of food catastrophic loss. Sympatric rodents in response to the catastrophic stealing food behavior response of the research study at the community level, to some extent, stealing food and stealing food behavior research breakthroughs in the past, limited to the individual or population level limitations found sympatric animal hoarding behavior response to a catastrophic loss of convergence of food. Results-depth understanding of the behavior of the anti-stealing food hoarding animals, enrichment and development of hoarding behavior theory and so has a certain significance.

Behavioural Responses in Seed-hoarding of Sympatric Rodents to Catastrophic Pilferage

Abstract

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