A Simple and Environmentally Friendly Field Method for Fecal Analysis of Herbivore Diet

Abstract

We developed a simple and environmentally‐friendly protocol for identifying herbivore diets by isolating and identifying microscopic vegetation fragments from fecal materials that can be easily applied in remote areas where laboratories are absent. We used feces from human‐habituated Virunga mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), whose diet is well‐known, to develop and validate the protocol. First, fresh materials from parts of the 5 most frequently consumed plants by the Virunga gorillas were collected from June to July, 2016, processed, and their distinctive features photographed using a digital microscope to establish a plant reference collection. Second, we collected fresh fecal samples from 16 known gorillas and successfully identified distinctive vegetation fragments of the 5 key food plants. The method is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and does not require sophisticated laboratory equipment. It has the potential to be applied to species that cannot be easily studied by direct observation and those ranging in remote regions. The method can also be used in other studies involving plant‐animal interactions, the ontogeny of feeding behavior, and animal ecology. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

Identifikasi Berdasarkan Anatomi Tumbuhan Pakan dalam Feses Gajah Sumatra (Elephas maximus sumatranus) di Taman Nasional Way Kambas

“…Hasil penelitian tersebut didapat bahwa spesies tumbuhan yang dimakan rusa timor dapat diamati dengan membandingkan gambaran sel epidermis, sel tetangga, dan sel penutup stomata yang khas pada tiap spesies. Selain itu, identifikasi pakan dengan mengamatati fragmen epidermis remahan pada feses dapat menjadi metode yang sederhana dan ramah lingkungan serta mudah diaplikasikan di daerah terpencil dimana peralatan laboratorium tidak memadai sesuai dengan penelitian Tuyisengse et al (2020) yang meneliti komposisi diet pakan gorilla gunung liar di Virunga National Park. Metode ini juga dapat digunakan untuk mendukung penelitian lain yang melibatkan interaksi tumbuhan-hewan, ontogeni perilaku makan herbivora dan ekologi hewan (Tuyisengse et al 2020).…”