Dispersal timing, palatability and caching of acorns of Aesculus turbinata Bl

Abstract

Aesculus turbinata acorns were dispersed earlier than other acorn-producing species and are removed completely by rodents, although the acorns are unpalatable. The dispersal timing and low palatability to rodents on A. turbinata acorns promote the seed caching by rodents, facilitating the seedling emergence is possible even in lower-seeding years.

Keywords:

• Aesculus turbinata
• rodent
• seed palatability
• seed dispersal timing
• mast seeding

Acknowledgments

We thank M. Tu, Nature Conservancy, USA, for her improvement on this manuscript. This work is partly supported by grants from JSPS.