3.2 | Seed dispersers of the large-seeded pines
We screened the seed dispersers of P. dabeshanensis , P.
koraiensis , P. pumila , and P. armandii , with regards toP. fenzeliana , P. gerardiana , P. bungeana , andP. sibirica. However, information regarding seed dispersal was
not available (Table 3). The seed dispersers of P. dabeshanensisinclude Sciurotamias davidianus and Apodemus sylvaticus ,
which are small forest rodents, while the primary seed dispersers ofP. koraiensis are Tamias sibiricus, Sciurus vulgaris ,Sitta europaea , and Nucifraga caryocatactes , which are
medium-sized birds and large rodents. Moreover, the primary seed
dispersers of P. pumila are Sciurus vulgaris and N.
caryocatactes with similar geographical distribution as P.
koraiensis , thus, similar seed dispersers. We found that the seed
disperser species of P. armandii were the most common, in which
the only report showed that the N. caryocatactes were the primary
seed disperser of P. sibirica . Combined with the body size,
habitat, scatter-hoarding behavior, and diet (Jiang et al., 2015;
MacKinnon & Phillipps, 2000; Zhang, 2007), we identified four primary
seed dispersers of the large-seeded pines in China, which consisted ofN. caryocatactes , S. vulgaris , S. davidianus , andT. sibiricus (see S1 for details).