Coexisting plant species often share the same animal mutualists and enemies. The selection preference of an animal on a focal individual is not only directly affected by the focal individual’s intrinsic traits, but also indirectly affected by conspecific or interspecific neighbouring individuals. Many studies often show inconsistent neighbour effects by comparison of the results between the presence and absence of neighbours, without considering the contrasting functional traits between the focal individual and the neighbours. Rodent-seed interaction that is ubiquitous in many ecosystems was selected to test the neighbour effect by using artificial seeds with different tannin contents, a vital seed trait that directly influences rodent foraging preference. I compared the seed predation and dispersal preference of rodents by monitoring the fate of 1920 artificial seeds with different absolute tannin contents (from 0 to 25%) among three categories of neighbouring seeds with tannin contents of 0%, 10% and 25%, respectively. Obvious neighbour effects were observed, although the magnitude and direction of the effects differed among different processes of scatter-hoarding behaviour. Furthermore, the neighbour effect did not show a consistent pattern among seeds with different tannin contents. Our results strongly suggested that the neighbour effects of coexisting species should be considered when evaluating the foraging preferences of animal mutualists/predators upon a specific plant species. The contrasting functional traits between focal plants and neighbouring individuals should be considered when studying neighbour effects. By using the artificial seed study system, I found that the contrast of tannin content could explain the inconsistent patterns of neighbour effects (i.e. the fate of a specific seed is influenced by its neighbouring seeds) among different seeds. In natural forest systems, plant seeds have a diverse array of traits, all of which markedly affect rodent foraging behaviour. Furthermore, a large spatio-temporal variation in seed production among species may result in a distinct variation in the relative densities of different seeds, which in turn may lead to even more complex neighbour effects at the whole forest community level. Our results strongly suggested that the neighbour effects of coexisting species of seeds should be considered when evaluating seed dispersal and predation of a specific species. The contrasting seed traits between focal plants and neighbouring individuals should be considered when studying neighbour effects.

中文翻译：

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邻居效应并不总是显示出一致的模式，种子性状的对比很重要：来自种子啮齿动物共生研究的证据

共存的植物物种通常共享相同的动物共生者和敌人。动物对焦点个体的选择偏好不仅直接受焦点个体内在特征的影响，还受到同种或种间相邻个体的间接影响。许多研究经常通过比较邻居的存在和不存在之间的结果来显示不一致的邻居效应，而没有考虑焦点个体和邻居之间的对比功能特征。通过使用具有不同单宁含量的人工种子，选择在许多生态系统中普遍存在的啮齿动物-种子相互作用来测试邻居效应，这是直接影响啮齿动物觅食偏好的重要种子特性。我通过监测单宁含量分别为 0%、10% 和 25% 的三类相邻种子中具有不同绝对单宁含量（从 0 到 25%）的 1920 粒人工种子的命运，比较了啮齿动物的种子捕食和传播偏好. 观察到明显的邻居效应，尽管影响的大小和方向在不同的分散囤积行为过程中有所不同。此外，具有不同单宁含量的种子之间的邻居效应并没有显示出一致的模式。我们的结果强烈表明，在评估动物共生者/捕食者对特定植物物种的觅食偏好时，应考虑共存物种的邻居效应。在研究邻居效应时，应考虑焦点植物和邻近个体之间的对比功能特征。通过使用人工种子研究系统，我发现单宁含量的对比可以解释不同种子之间相邻效应的不一致模式（即特定种子的命运受其相邻种子的影响）。在天然森林系统中，植物种子具有多种特性，所有这些特性都会显着影响啮齿动物的觅食行为。此外，物种间种子产量的巨大时空变化可能导致不同种子相对密度的明显变化，这反过来可能导致整个森林群落水平上更复杂的邻居效应。我们的结果强烈表明，在评估特定物种的种子传播和捕食时，应考虑种子共存物种的邻居效应。在研究邻居效应时，应考虑焦点植物和邻近个体之间的对比种子特征。