Dieta y disponibilidad de forraje del venado cola blanca Odocoileus virginianus thomasi (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) en un campo experimental de Campeche, México

Abstract

Forage use and availability for white tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus thomasi (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) in an experimental unit of Campeche, Mexico. In Campeche state, 122 Wildlife Conservation and Management Units have been recently conformed. In these units, eventhough the white tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus thomasi is a game species, no studies on its diet have been undertaken. The objectives of this work were to estimate the botanical composition of the diet and its seasonal change, to determine forage availability, carrying capacity and stocking rate of O. virginianus thomasi. The study was conducted in the experimental unit of Colegio de Postgraduados in Campeche, Mexico, from October 2010 to May 2012. The diet was determined through microhistological analyses of the white tailed deer feces by the use of reference material. Forage availability was determined through the Adelaide´s method; the stocking rate, using the grazing pressure factor; and carrying capacity considering forage availability and 35% of utilization efficiency. In this experimental unit, the deer diet included 40 species belonging to15 families. The highest species richness ocurred during the rainy season with 29 species. However, deers preferred shrubs during all seasons, and herbaceous species during the rainy season. The diet composition, forage availability, carrying capacity and stocking rate varied throughout the year. Carrying capacity ranged from 0.04 to 1.08deer/ha. Additional studies are required to detail about the composition of the diet, habitat availability and use throughout its geographical range, and to detail on nutritional and health aspects.

Classification of Vegetation Types in the Habitat of White-Tailed Deer in a Location of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico

“…In the study site, the white-tailed deer consume a small proportion of Mimosa polyantha during the dry season [42]. This foraging pattern has also been reported in other regions [43].…”

“…The TDF dominated by Neobuxbaumia, Bursera and Mimosa is therefore the vegetation type that offers better habitat conditions and important food resources for the white-tailed deer in this location [43, 45, 46]. In a previous study in four locations of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, including San Gabriel Casa Blanca, the variables associated with white-tailed deer density were: basal area, distances to roads and to the area with largest human population, slope, aspect, and presence of cattle [23].…”

Variación de la composición de la dieta del venado cola blanca (Odocoileus virginianus) en la Reserva de la Biosfera Tehuacán-Cuicatlán

“…For the Mixteca region of Puebla, Villarreal-Espino (2006) reports 133 species grouped in 50 botanical families, but once again only a few contributed to the largest percentage. Granados-Rivera et al (2014) report 40 species of 15 families in a study done in Campeche. In general, the white tailed deer selected a high number tendencia marginalmente significativa (P = 0.051) de mayor consumo de ramas y hojas en comparación con el BTS.…”

“…Food habit studies of white tailed deer have been carried out in Mexico, in pine-oak temperate forests (AguileraReyes et al, 2013;Gallina, Maury, & Serrano, 1981;González & Briones-Salas, 2012), in xeric shrublands of the northeast (Martínez, Molina, González, Marroquín, & Navar, 1997;Ramírez-Lozano, 2004) and in tropical regions (Arceo, Mandujano, Gallina, & Pérez, 2005;Granados-Rivera et al, 2014;López-Pérez, Serrano, Aguilar, & Herrera, 2012;Plata et al, 2009). The white tailed deer inhabits the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve (RBTC) (Ortiz-García, Ramos-Robles, Pérez-Solano, & Mandujano, 2012) where there is a particular interest in sustainably making use of it in extensive UMAs.…”

Seasonal home-range size of the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus thomasi, in a tropical wetland of southeastern Mexico

“…Forage quality and quantity for deer in the Campeche area had significant variations throughout the year in response to the seasonality of the region, with a drastic reduction in the available forage during the dry season compared with the rainy season (Granados et al, 2014). We found that home-range size and core area size were similar throughout the year for the studied females, even during the fawning months (February to June; Contreras-Moreno, Hidalgo-Mihart, Jesús-de la Cruz et al, 2019), when the forage availability was reduced.…”