Impacts of burial and insect infection on germination and seedling growth of acorns of Quercus variabilis

Rodents usually exert important role, through their scatter seed hoarding behavior, on plant regeneration in the field. To investigate the effects of burial and insects infection on germination and seedling growth of acorns of Quercus variabilis, perfect and infected acorns were buried in the soil among four depths, 0 cm, 4 cm, 8 cm and 12 cm, to simulate the seed hoarding behavior by rodents in the field. The results showed that (1) the germination rate were both high, under 4 cm burial depth, for perfect and infected acorns (92% and 53% separately), and decreased significantly with increased burial depth; (2) perfect acorns germinated better in 4 cm burial depth group by autumn of first year; (3) there 32% (perfect) and 26% (infected) acorns with 0 cm burial depth, on the soil surface, germinated successfully; for infected acorns, the 4 cm depth group had the best germination or seedling recruitment in both the first year and the second year; (4) acorns of Q. variabilis exhibited dormancy period ca 7 months; (5) burial, infection, and the interaction between these two factors influenced several aspects including stem height, leaf weight, Tannic acid, and biomass within seedling growth; (6) the results from this study suggest that proper burial would be helpful for the germination and seedling growth, and seedlings of shallow buried acorns had an advantage in their early development; and (7) infection by insects will not inevitably influence seedling early development.