Scatterhoarded Seeds Remain Useful to Hoarders over Multiple Hoarding Seasons in Central Alabama

Scatterhoarders store food items in many locations around their home range to mitigate periods of food scarcity. We tested the assumption that scatterhoarded food could only be used in the year after it was buried. Over an 18-month period, we monitored survival of 793 cached seeds of 6 seed types in a small forest in central Alabama. We estimated that as much as 40% of our buried seeds that had not been pilfered survived to the end of the first scatterhoarding season after burial and 56.1% of surviving seeds were later pilfered, eaten, or stored by scatterhoarders, indicating they were used beyond the first winter. Thus, we provide evidence that scatterhoarded seeds may be edible for at least 1.5 years, which would increase the benefits of scatterhoarding behavior.