This alternating pulse of resource availability generates a wave-like response in plant biomass. This pattern is overlain on the uniform and patchy distribution on the burrows and mounds to produce a complicated pattern of influence on the vegetation. A second area of research involves strategies of long-term food storage by animals. Animals that are foraging for current needs can calculate the net worth of different food types and make decisions about what to consume. However, food that is stored can change significantly in value as it ripens or spoils, altering its value at the time it is consumed compared to when it was gathered.
Fungi are common in stored food and can have multiple effects.
Laboratory experiments have revealed that rodents actually prefer slightly moldy seeds to sterile, and to very moldy, seeds. Thus, it should benefit animals to manage their resource to maximize the benefits and minimize the liabilities of their stored food and cohabiting microbes. Experiments have shown that several rodent species will move freshly stored food to areas that promote beneficial mold growth, but move the food, presumably to preclude further, detrimental mold growth, to areas that inhibit mold growth. We have developed long-term inventory strategy models to compare how differences in such parameters as spoilage rate, relative abundance, and length of the storage period affect caching behavior. Results reveal that different storage strategies should be employed depending on the specific values for the above parameters.