Feeding activity and dietary composition of roe deer at the southern edge of their range

Wallach, Arian D.; Shanas, Uri; Inbar, Moshe

doi:10.1007/s10344-009-0281-4

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…It is commonly recognized as a browser, but it can exploit a large number of plant species, adapting its dietary niche to the spatiotemporal variation of food availability (e.g., Tixier and Duncan 1996;Duncan et al 1998;Wallach et al 2010;Minder 2012). In open and agricultural systems, the roe deer can become a grazer and it can feed largely on grass (e.g., Minder 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dietary partitioning between European roe deer and European brown hare

2016

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The European roe deer Capreolus capreolus and the European brown hare Lepus europaeus are two important and widespread herbivores in Europe. In recent decades, roe deer have generally increased throughout Europe, while brown hares have decreased, because of habitat changes caused by agricultural intensification. It is unclear whether resource exploitation by roe deer may favour this decline. The analysis of interspecific dietary patterns could help to assess whether a potential for competition occurs between these herbivores. Through micro-histological analyses of feces, we have assessed food habits, diet selection, and dietary overlap between roe deer and brown hares in a Mediterranean mixed wood-agricultural area, in 2007–2008. We detected significant differences between the composition of diets of these two herbivores. Deciduous and evergreen wood plants were the staple of roe deer (each of them built up >30Â % of total diet), while cereals, spontaneous herbs, and graminoids were the staple of hares (each of them built up 23–33Â % of diet). These items were selected by roe deer and hares, with seasonal differences in selection indices, likely depending on variation of availability of different food categories. The dietary breadth of roe deer was ca. 2.5 times greater than that of hares; the interspecific dietary overlap was low but increased in winter, and the dietary niche of hares was included in that of roe deer. Our results suggest that dietary and habitat partitioning occurred between roe deer and hares, with wood and open field being their main foraging habitat, respectively. Ecological overlap occurred in winter, when roe deer aggregate in open fields and increase their use of wheat, the main food item of hares. Most likely, abundance of cultivated cereals and spontaneous herbs for hares and presence of wood, providing roe deer with high-quality browse, reduce the potential for interspecific competition and are the key for the coexistence between these herbivores, in Mediterranean agricultural areas

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dietary partitioning between European roe deer and European brown hare

2016

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“…The identification of fruits (Rosaceae) in faeces further confirms that these cervids seek out more palatable and high-quality food sources. Previous studies (Tixier et al 1997;Wallach et al 2010) have shown that fruits are the most preferred food items in some seasons. In particular, Wallach et al (2010) found that fruits were the dominant portion of roe deer diet in summer and early autumn.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Previous studies (Tixier et al 1997;Wallach et al 2010) have shown that fruits are the most preferred food items in some seasons. In particular, Wallach et al (2010) found that fruits were the dominant portion of roe deer diet in summer and early autumn. According to these authors, this feeding strategy demonstrates that roe deer can also exhibit opportunistic behaviour in some circumstances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Diet composition of the Italian roe deer (Capreolus capreolus italicus) (Mammalia: Cervidae) from two protected areas

Freschi

Fascetti

Riga

et al. 2016

The European Zoological Journal

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The Italian roe deer is classified as "vulnerable" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, as the few specimens of this endemism may have a high risk of extinction. Conservation efforts for the Italian roe deer cannot prescind from the study of the feeding habits of the taxon. Therefore, in the present study, the spring diet composition of the Italian roe deer from two protected areas was estimated by using the micro-histological technique of faecal analysis. Univariate measures of alpha and beta diversity were computed to assess spatial differences in diet composition between the sites. A total of 79 different species of plants were identified, with few species (mainly woody plants) comprising over a quarter of the diet. The most consumed species were Rubia peregrina, Quercus suber and Osyris alba in Site 1, and Q. cerris, Carpinus betulus and Crataegus monogyna in Site 2. Alpha diversity analysis showed that diet composition was quite rich and diverse in both sites, with nearly all the shared species eaten to an equal extent. Moreover, the values of alpha diversity indices were not significantly different between the sites. The degree of dietary overlap ranged from "low" to "high", as most of the identified plants were unshared, whereas the consumption of some shared plants differed between the sites. In conclusion, our results showed that that this subspecies of Capreolus is capable of exhibiting both a generalist and an opportunistic behaviour in relation of food resource availability.

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“…will suffer from a decreased dispersal rate) than that of generalists (Devictor, Julliard & Jiguet, 2008). For example, the generalist roe deer (Wallach, Shanas & Inbar, 2010) can cope with a fragmented landscape because of its plastic feeding patterns (Abbas et al, 2011), whereas a specialist deer, the white-lipped deer, becomes vulnerable due to fragmentation processes (Leslie, 2010). A study of two gecko species from eucalyptus forests in Australia showed that the specialist Oedura reticulata failed to form a meta-population structure whereas the generalist Gehyra variegata maintained a widespread distribution through meta-population dynamic (Sarre, Smith & Meyers, 1995;Hoehn, Sarre & Henle, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialists may thrive in small habitats: the case of high genetic diversity within a confined gecko population

2014

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Maintaining a meta‐population structure significantly contributes to species viability and is often the basis for defining the difference between a naturally patchy and a fragmented landscape. However, a heterogeneous landscape may be patchy for habitat generalists and fragmented for specialists, preventing the formation of meta‐population structures in habitat specialists. We examined this hypothesis on the generalist Lichtenstein's short‐fingered gecko Stenodactylus sthenodactylus and the endangered specialist Middle Eastern short‐fingered gecko S. doriae, two species of the genus Stenodactylus, inhabiting the southern Arava Valley in Israel. We compared the genetic structure of the populations of these two geckos by amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis, expecting to find decreased gene diversity within the small populations that fail to form a meta‐population structure. Indeed, we found that among populations, the habitat specialist S. doriae had a low level of gene flow, whereas the habitat generalist S. sthenodactylus had a relatively high level of gene flow. However, unexpectedly, the most isolated population of the specialist S. doriae, located in the Samar dune (a small patch of 2.3 km2), exhibited the highest level of gene diversity of all the populations studied (expected heterozygosity = 0.4286). Moreover, the results showed that the Samar population is genetically unique when compared with its neighboring populations. Gene flow between two populations located to the north and to the south bypass the Samar population. The generalist S. sthenodactylus, in contrast, did not exhibit an exceptional level of gene diversity. The origin of the exceptional diversity and genetic uniqueness of the Samar population of S. doriae may be associated with traits that make this gecko highly adaptive to this specific landscape unit. It also emphasizes the need to establish special conservation efforts for the protection of high‐quality habitats that provide adequate conditions for a source population of specialist species.

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Feeding activity and dietary composition of roe deer at the southern edge of their range

Cited by 17 publications

References 25 publications

Dietary partitioning between European roe deer and European brown hare

Dietary partitioning between European roe deer and European brown hare

Diet composition of the Italian roe deer (Capreolus capreolus italicus) (Mammalia: Cervidae) from two protected areas

Specialists may thrive in small habitats: the case of high genetic diversity within a confined gecko population

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