Seed-caching responses to substrate and rock cover by two Peromyscus species: implications for pinyon pine establishment.

We examined whether pinyon mice ( Peromyscus truei) and brush mice ( P. boylii) could act as directed dispersal agents of pinyon pine ( Pinus edulis) through differential responses to soil particle size and rock cover. In field experiments, we allowed mice to either cache pinyon seeds or recover artificially cached seeds (pilfer) from quadrats containing large- or small-particle soils.