Table 1.
(a) Numbers of events when seeds were fed to ducks (three trials with up to eight ducks) then subsequently recovered intact, in relation to the total number of such events and the total number of seeds ingested during the experiments. (b) Number of intact seeds retrieved, and the median, mean, maximum, and mode of retention time
| Plant species | (a) | (b) Retention timea | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrieval events/Ingestion events | Seeds ingested | n | Med | Mean | Max | Mode | |
| Allium angulosum | 21/24 | 2,194 | 257 | 4 | 6.07 | 31 | 4 |
| Angelica palustris | 13/24 | 2,095 | 32 | 4 | 8.09 | 21 | 4 |
| Astragalus contortuplicatus | 24/24 | 2,298 | 1,173 | 4 | 5.94 | 45 | 4 |
| Bolboschoenus planiculmis | 16/16 | 1,555 | 758 | 4 | 8.26 | 45 | 4 |
| Cirsium brachycephalum | 15/16 | 1,505 | 95 | 4 | 5.67 | 31 | 4 |
| Cuscuta lupuliformis | 24/24 | 2,167 | 312 | 4 | 5.6 | 45 | 4 |
| Cyperus flavescens | 24/24 | 2,350 | 577 | 4 | 4.64 | 21 | 4 |
| Echinochloa crus‐galli | 19/24 | 2,222 | 150 | 4 | 5.63 | 31 | 4 |
| Elatine hungarica | 8/8 | 795 | 173 | 4 | 4.17 | 31 | 4 |
| Elatine hydropiper | 13/16 | 1,598 | 151 | 4 | 4.04 | 7 | 4 |
| Glycyrrhiza echinata | 19/24 | 1,037 | 82 | 4 | 6.09 | 31 | 4 |
| Lychnis coronaria | 16/24 | 2,253 | 100 | 4 | 5.74 | 31 | 4 |
| Sparganium erectum | 1/24 | 802 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
a
These times are a proxy for retention time, and true retention times would be lower at some unknown point between the intervals when feces were collected. For example, a maximum of 45 hr refers to a true maximum somewhere between 31 and 45 hr.