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Effects of rodents and litter coverage on the seed fate of wild Prunus divaricata in wild fruit forest of Tianshan Mountain, Northwest China.

ZHAO Yu1,2, LIU Ying1, WANG Jian-ming1, ZHANG Yong-heng1, YANG Yun-fei2   

  1. (1School of Chemistry and Bioscience, Yili Normal University/ Key Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry and Application, Colleges & Universities under the Department of Education of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Yining 835000, Xingjiang, China; 2Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China)
  • Online:2014-09-18 Published:2014-09-18

Abstract:

The dynamic variation characteristics of seed bank and the main factors influencing the fate of Prunus divaricata seeds under the pressure of rodent predation and litter coverage were investigated with artificial soil seed banks from September, 2010 to April, 2013. It was found that there was about 48.3% of seeds germinated under the rodent predation disturbance conditions, 50% of the seeds was predated in situ or removed, and only about 4% decayed. The artificial seed bank formed a shortterm persistent soil seed bank without any rodent predation disturbance, and the seeds could germinate even though they had been stored in the seed bank for three years. Soil burial provided a lower predation pressure and promoted the recruitment of wild P. divaricata seedlings, removal and predation in situ by animals was an important factor affecting the fate of seeds.  At the same time, seeds removed and foraged in situ in the control and litter coverage samples were significantly less than that in the bare soil samples. Ground coverage reduced the removal and predation of seeds by rodents, but the effect was not enough to result in more seedlings. Rodent predation and removal were the main factors that could affect the seed fate and dynamics of seed bank.