Risk of Being Preyed Upon While Preying on Acorns Alters Collaborative Relationships in the Dispersal of Acorns by Rodents

The relationships between rodents and oak species are affected by a multitude of factors. Therefore, we have researched each pair of species separately, as each relationship has peculiarities that define it and make it different from others. We began by considering the rodent-acorn relationship to be simply predation. We then found that some of the acorns were stored and buried, while others were partially consumed, preserving the embryo so that they could germinate. The relationship was thus interpreted in terms of the rodents' collaboration in dissemination. In this study, we included a new factor. What happens when we include a third species in the relationship between rodents and oak trees: the predator of the acorn predator? To answer this question, we designed an experiment in which we placed four specimens of four species of rodents individually in semi-wild enclosures. Inside, we have given them the option of feeding on acorns placed under trees free of nocturnal birds of prey and trees with nocturnal birds of prey. We have studied the behaviour of four species of rodents and have found that three of them alter their foraging behaviour when they are under trees with nocturnal birds of prey. Algerian mouse (Mus spretus), wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), and garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) do not participate in the dissemination of acorns when nocturnal birds of prey are lurking, as they do not enter to collect acorns under the canopy occupied by birds of prey. Common vole (Microtus arvalis) does not change its behaviour when nocturnal birds of prey are present in trees. This species does not participate in seed dispersal either, as it does not transport acorns but consumes them in-situ.