Fecal Indices to Dietary Quality of Cervids in Old-Growth Forests

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Wiley, Wildlife Society, Allen Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Wildlife Management. Determination of dietary quality for wild ungulates can be both time-consuming and expensive. Because fistulation is usually not possible, determinations require a measure of diet (e.g., fecal analyses, direct feeding observations, tame animals, etc.) and simultaneous measures of nutritional attributes of each dietary component. An alternative approach is to measure a chemical characteristic of fecal material that bears a relationship to the quality or quantity of ingested diets (e.g., Cordova et al. 1978, Holechek et al. 1982b). Fecal nitrogen (FN) is a common index that has been shown to be positively correlated with intake (Arnold and Dudzinski 1963, Langlands et al. 1963, Stallcup et al. 1975), dietary digestibility (Lancaster 1949, Greenhalgh et al. 1960, Marten et al. 1963, Holloway et al. 1981), dietary protein (Raymond 1948, Greenhalgh and Corbett 1960, Hebert 1973, Arman et al. 1975, Erasmus et al. 1978, Mould and Robbins 1981, Holechek et al. 1982a), and weight changes (Gates and Hudson 1981) in a variety of wild and domestic ruminants. Difficulties with using FN as an index of dietary quality have usually resulted from seasonal changes in digestibility of forages (Greenhalgh et al. 1960, Minson and Kemp 1961, Holloway et al. 1981). Fecal indices to dietary quality have received limited application in wildlife management. Arman et al. (1975) contended that FN could be a valuable index if the relationships of dietary nitrogen (DN) and FN could be established for a particular ruminant in a given locality; widespread use was limited because of variability in species, forages, and seasons. Mould and Robbins (1981:327) rejected its utility as a "simple" indicator of dietary quality of wild ruminants because of protein-complexing properties of phenolics and other secondary metabolites in plants (McLeod 1974) that may

MODIS time series contribution for the estimation of nutritional properties of alpine grassland

“…Islam et al [2011] reported a high correlation between NDVI and nitrogen content of maize plants, but only at one specific phenological stage (8-leaf stage). Other studies linked NDVI with faecal crude protein (FCP) of large herbivores, which is considered a reliable indicator of the quality of vegetation [Cordova et al, 1978;Leslie and Starkey, 1985;Hodgman et al, 1996]. For example, Ryan et al [2012] showed a positive relationship between log transformed NDVI and nitrogen faecal content of African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and Hamel et al [2009] found a negative relationship between integrated NDVI in June and the date of the peak in FCP of mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).…”

Spatial and temporal variation in nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in faeces from springbok in the Kalahari

“…Researchers have used faecal nutrient concentration studies in a variety of indigenous types of wildlife as well as for domestic livestock (Erasmus et al 1978;Belonje & Van den Berg 1980;Holechek et al 1982Holechek et al , 1985Leslie & Starkey 1985;Leite & Stuth 1990;Irwin et al 1993;Grant et al 1995Grant et al , 1996Grant et al , 2000MacLeod et al 1996;Vorster 1996;Wrench et al 1996Wrench et al , 1997Van der Waal et al 2003;Codron et al 2005;Botha & Stock 2005;Mbatha & Ward 2006). Leslie & Starkey (1985) found that faecal nitrogen concentration increases with an increase of the nitrogen concentration of the herbivore's diet. Total faecal nitrogen is reported to correlate with the soluble nitrogen fraction in faeces (Leite & Stuth 1990) although the ratio of insoluble nitrogen in faeces increases as the forage quality decreases (Leite & Stuth 1990).…”

“…Common problems that hamper the determination of diet quality and animal condition include animal selectivity, and the cost, ethics and duration of using intrusive methods such as oesophageal fistulae (Leslie & Starkey 1985;Wrench et al 1997;Botha & Stock 2005). These factors make dietary quality one of the most difficult aspects of range nutrition to study .…”

Fecal nitrogen as an index of dietary nitrogen in two sika deerCervus nippon populations

“…Experimental studies with cattle and sheep showed different regression line slopes between grass and legumes (Wehausen 1995). Regression lines for elk are likely to be different in slope between diets with and without browse, although this was not statistically demonstrated (Leslie and Starkey 1985). Conversely, no difference was found in linear regression equations between grassland and forest areas for cattle (Holechek et al 1982).…”

“…Despite the suggestions of these experimental studies, the simple linear relationship between FN and DN has been verified in cattle fed both grass and browse in captivity (Holechek et al 1982), as well as in captive black-tailed deer Odocoileus hemionus columbianus and mule deer O. h. hemionus fed a mixture of grass and browse (Mubanga et al 1985, Hodgman et al 1996 and in North American elk, black-tailed deer, and sika deer Cervus nippon Heude, 1884 fed both grass and browse in the field (Leslie and Starkey 1985, Watanabe and Takatsuki 1993, but see Hobbs 1987. FN reflected the nutritional status of free-ranging deer on winter ranges, where browsing was common (Hodgman and Bowyer 1986).…”