Olfactory misinformation provides refuge to palatable plants from mammalian browsing
| Field | Value | Language |
| dc.contributor.author | Finnerty, Patrick Benjamin | |
| dc.coverage.spatial | Ku- ring- gai Chase National Park, Sydney, Australia (33°41′33″S, 151°08′44″E) | en |
| dc.coverage.temporal | 03 February and 13 March 2023 | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-09-11T04:40:52Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-09-11T04:40:52Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-09-11 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2123/31657 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Mammalian herbivores browse palatable plants of ecological and economical value. Undesirable neighbours can reduce browsing to these plants by providing ‘associational refuge’, but they can also compete for resources. Here, we recreated the informative odour emitted by undesirable plants. We then tested whether this odour could act as virtual neighbours, providing browsing refuge to palatable tree seedlings. We found that protection using this misinformation tactic was equivalent to that provided by real plants. Palatable seedlings were 17-20 times more likely to be eaten by herbivores without virtual, or real, neighbours. As many herbivores use plant odour to forage, virtual neighbours could provide a novel practical management approach to help protect valued plants. | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.rights | Other | en |
| dc.subject | Olfaction | en |
| dc.subject | volatile organic compound | en |
| dc.subject | plant-herbivore interaction | en |
| dc.subject | “virtual” neighbour | en |
| dc.subject | associational plant refuge | en |
| dc.subject | wildlife management | en |
| dc.title | Olfactory misinformation provides refuge to palatable plants from mammalian browsing | en |
| dc.type | Dataset | en |
| dc.subject.asrc | ANZSRC FoR code::31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES | en |
| dc.subject.asrc | ANZSRC FoR code::31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES | en |
| dc.relation.arc | DP190101441 | |
| dc.description.method | 1. Associational refuge main trial All six treatments were deployed at our study site in plots (n = 15 per treatment, at least 50 m apart) in a completely randomised plot design. At each plot, five “virtual” or real neighbours were placed evenly in circle (radius 1 m) around a single E. punctata seedling (325 ± 18 mm tall, Supplementary Fig. 7). All plants were sourced from Plants Plus Cumberland Forest Nursery, Pennant Hills, NSW, Australia and came potted (using Scott’s Osmocote Native Premium Potting Mix) in black plastic 200 mm ‘Garden City Plastic Grow Plant Pots’. Temperature ranged across the study period from 13.3 °C to 37.0 °C with a mean of 6.5 mm daily rainfall, with 12 days of rain (of > 1 mm) over the total 40-day period (Terrey Hills, Sydney, Bureau of Meteorology 2022). Patches were monitored for 40 days between 03 February and 13 March 2023 using motion-triggered infra-red trial cameras (ScoutGuard SG560K or SG2060-K; Professional Trapping Supplies Pty Ltd, Molendinar, QLD, Australia). Cameras were fastened to wooden stakes (camera height = 0.7 m, distance to seedling = 1.5 m) at an approximate 45° angel towards the palatable seedlings. Cameras were set to record 60 s videos with instant re-trigger. After 40 days, we quantified the survival time of palatable seedlings at ‘time to first wallaby browse (days)’ (when a wallaby consumed any part of the palatable seedling). If browsed, we quantified the proportion of E. punctata biomass consumed after the first browsing visit. We also recorded whether the palatable seedling was browsed during the day (colour videos) or during the night (black and white videos). 1.1 Pre-trial period Before the main trial, we ran a 14-day pre-trial period to both habituate wallabies to the experimental set-up of camera and stake and calculate a score of background wallaby activity per patch (background wallaby activity score = the number of wallabies recorded at a treatment site during the pre-trial period). Any plots where wallabies were not recorded during the pre-trial period and the main trial were removed from later analysis. | en |
| usyd.faculty | SeS faculties schools::Faculty of Science | en |
| usyd.faculty | SeS faculties schools::Faculty of Science::School of Life and Environmental Sciences | en |
| usyd.department | School of Life and Environmental Sciences | en |
| workflow.metadata.only | No | en |
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