Abstract: Seed hoarding by seed-eating rodents is a critical strategy for survival during periods of food shortage. Rodents are believed to modify their hoarding behavior when seeds are infested with weevils (Curculio spp.). Here we investigated the effects of intact and insect infestation of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata on the hoarding behavior of two sympatric rodent species (Apodemus draco and Niviventer confucianus) under semi-natural enclosures in Foping National Nature Reserve, Qinling China, during September-November 2016. The results showed that: 1) A. draco and N. confucianus could distinguish intact and insect-infested seeds, and preferred to eat and hoard intact seeds. 2) Some of insect-infested seeds still were eaten and hoarded by both rodent species. 3) N. confucianus only larder hoarded intact and insect-infested seeds, whereas A. draco performed both larder hoarding and scatter hoarding intact seeds only. These results suggested that A. draco and N. confucianus can discriminate between infested and non-infested seeds but they showed different hoarding strategies for the infested and intact seeds, and such differences were largely affected by infested with weevils seeds of Q. aliena var. acuteserrata.

Key words: Rodents, Hoarding behavior, Weevil-infested seeds, Semi-natural enclosure, Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata

关键词: 鼠类, 贮藏行为, 虫蛀种子, 半自然围栏, 锐齿槲栎