Ecological Archives E095-154-A1

Nathanael I. Lichti, Michael A. Steele, Hao Zhang, Robert K. Swihart. 2014. Mast species composition alters seed fate in North American rodent-dispersed hardwoods. Ecology 95:1746–1758. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-1657.1

Appendix A. Search area descriptions.

Due to logistical constraints, different search patterns were used at the Wisconsin (WI) and Pennsylvania (PA) field sites, and during each year in WI. In PA, searchers conducted surveys in a 30 m radius plot around each exclosure in each year of the study. Searchers occasionally extended the search outside the 30 m radius, leading to a total of 12 recoveries at distances between 30–50 m. For analysis, we assumed that these plots were searched to a radius equal to the dispersal distance for the most distant seed, or 30 m, whichever was greater.

In WI, searches during the 2007 season were restricted to three 2 m wide, 30 m long transects at compass headings of 0° (= north), 45°, and 90°. In the analysis, we assumed that the area around the box was searched completely, to a radius 2.6 m (the overlap between transects) in a complete circle (Fig. A1b). In WI, 2008, we searched a circular plot around each box to a radius of 20 m, and then extended the search to a radius of 30 m along eight evenly spaced, 2 m wide transects radiating from the box (Fig. A1c).

FigA1

Fig. A1. Coverage of search areas used to relocate tagged seeds in PA, 2007–2008 (a), WI, 2007 (b), and WI 2008 (c). In the fall of each year, 200 metal tagged seeds from each of 2 species were placed in semi-permeable exclosures at the center of each plot (gray boxes). Searches were conducted the following spring to locate tags and cached seeds.


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