Seed Losses to Small Mammals and Birds : Direct Seeding Symposium

1974

S. 67-74

38 Lit. Ang.

Unselbständiges Werk

200049791

The ever increasing demands on forest resources by industry, and increasing labor costs encountered in planting, have revitalized an interest in direct seeding as a rapid and economical means of forest regeneration in North America. The paper reviews the difficulties encountered by research workers who have studied major seed losses in the field ascribed to a variety of small mammals, birds, and insects. In earlier studies the difficulties in relocating for examination the individual seeds planted into the forest environment have usually made statistical evaluation of seed fate a matter of conjecture. The use of radio-tagging methods in one of the three studies reviewed has enebled the retrieval of a large percentage of planted coniferous seeds as small as 2,5 to 3,0mm in size.The radio-tracer method has indicated the inadequacy of past seed coating procedures and the requirement for further research in this field.