Abstract: Social learning is a phenotype of plastic behavior of animals, which enables the individuals to acquire adaptive behavior patterns suitable for local habitats. However, the transmission of food preference from vole maternity to its offspring has largely been ignored. Taking the root vole in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau as test object, a laboratory experiment was conducted, with the foods treated with 0.01% glucide or 0.1% fruit juice supplied to the vole maternity during its late pregnancy period and lactation, and to the offspring after weaned, aimed to observe the food preferences of the offspring. The results demonstrated that the weaned voles preferred the food  items  that their mothers had during pregnancy and lactation. Root vole lived in the environment with dramatic seasonal variation, and, for the weaned voles, learning the food preferences of their mothers was a phenotype of plastic behavior, being advantageous to acquire the adaptive behaviorpatterns suitable for local habitats.

Key words: spatial error model, spatial distribution of forest carbon storage, Moran’s index.