Radicle pruning by seed-eating animals helps oak seedlings absorb more soil nutrient

Although radicle pruning has well been observed in plant-animal interactions, research has not been conducted to determine how radicle pruning by seed-eating animals regulates nutrition mobilization of cotyledonary reserves and absorption of soil nutrients. We used stable nitrogen isotopes to test how acorns of early-germinating oak species (Quercus variabilis, Q. aliena, and Q. mogolica) trade off nutrients in the cotyledons and those in the soil in response to radicle pruning by seed-eating rodents. Radicle pruning by rodents resulted in root branching in the 3 early-germinating oak species. Moreover, radicle pruning increased shoot dry weight and substantially reduced the root-to-shoot ratio of oak species. Corresponding to the decreased dry weight of roots and root-to-shoot ratio, the dry weight of the remnant cotyledons was higher after radicle pruning in the 3 oak species. We provided first evidence that radicle pruning by seed-eating animals improved seedling performance of early-germinating oaks by increasing absorption of nutrients from soil. The results indicate that early-germinating oak seedlings trade off nutrition budget by altering nutrient absorption from soil and reserve mobilization from cotyledons in response to radicle pruning by seed-eating animals. Our study provided new insight into the nutrition allocation mechanism of young seedlings in response to radicle pruning by seed-eating animals, reflecting a mutualistic interaction between early-germinating oak and food-hoarding animals.