Ability of Desert Rodents to Find Buried Seeds

Abstract

There were significant variations in how many caches of buried Indian rice grass (Oryzopsis hymenoides) seeds were found by Dipodomys microps, Dipodomys ordii, Microdipodops megacephalus, Perognathus formosus, Perognathus longimembris, Perognathus parvus, Peromyscus maniculatus, and Reithrodonotomys megalotis. Success ranged from that of P. maniculatus and R. megalotis, that failed to find any buried seeds in dry sand, to P. formosus, that found 57.5% of the seeds buried at 0.6 cm, to M. megacephalus that found 50% buried 1.3 cm deep. Peromyscus maniculatus and P. parvus found more buried seeds as the soil moisture was increased.