Meeting Abstract

P2.7  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30  Caching behavior of the specialist woodrat Neotoma stephensi VANLEUVEN, A.*; ABBOT, J.; SKOPEC, M.; Weber State University ashleyvanleuven@mail.weber.edu

Woodrats (genus Neotoma) are known for their prolific caching behaviors. Neotoma stephensi, a juniper specialist, frequently builds its middens in juniper trees and consumes up to 90% of its diet as juniper. Field evidence suggests that N. stephensi caches predominantly juniper in its middens. By contrast, the sympatric generalist N. albigula appears to cache a larger variety of both plants and non-plants in its middens. In order to determine if the two species have differences in their caching behavior, we compared them in a laboratory setting. Woodrats of both species were placed in cages that had two external compartments where different food and or non-food items were placed for caching. When offered rabbit chow (food) in one compartment and jingle bells (non-food) in the second compartment, the generalists cached more food and non-food than the specialists; who solely cached food. When offered the choice between juniper in one compartment and rabbit chow in the second compartment, the specialists cached more juniper than rabbit chow and consumed more juniper than the generalists. However, the generalists still cached more juniper and rabbit chow than the specialists. Given that juniper was the specialists’preferred item to cache, we next offered the specialists jingle bells that covered juniper in one compartment; while the other compartment contained only jingle bells. The specialists showed a preference for the jingle bells that impeded their access to juniper. We conclude that the specialist, N. stephensi, displays a decreased caching behavior in terms of both quantity and variety of items cached compared to the sympatric generalist, N. albigula.