Studies on the food of foxes

Abstract

The diet of foxes, Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) was estimated on the basis of analysis of approximately 1000 portions of faeces collected successively during three years. Estimation of the degree of different food constituent enabled assessment of the biomass of food consumed by these predators. Small rodents dominate in the diet of foxes (65.1%). Hares are less important (26.0°/o), while roe deer and birds are supplementary constituents. Among small rodents prevails Microtus arvalis (93.1°/o). It was shown that the availability of voles for foxes is a factor deciding on the diet of foxes. Estimates of year consumption of voles and hares by foxes are presented and the effect of these predators on the population of small rodents is discussed. * Praca została wykonana w ramach problemu węzłowego: Ekologiczne efekty intensywnej uprawy roli.Ul

Winter and early spring food of some carnivores in the Białowieża National Park, eastern Poland

“…In contrary to other areas where large predators were absent (Goszczyński, 1974(Goszczyński, , 1986) the foxes in the Białowieża forest had well pronounced scavenging habits. They fed on the wolves and lynxes kills, but also utilized the carcasses of ungulates that had died from severe winter conditions.…”

“…In the agrocenoses of western Poland (Goszczyński, 1974) up to 70% of biomass consumed by foxes was made up by field voles Microtus arvalis during the peak numbers of this rodent. When voles were in low numbers the contribution of this prey to the fox diet did not exceed 20%, and the predators compensated their lack by hunting more hares and birds.…”

“…In order to estimate the amount of biomass consumed, all the identified remains were weighed separately and multiplied by coefficients of digestibility. To facilitate calculations the coefficients given by Goszczyński (1974Goszczyński ( , 1976) for foxes and martens were applied to all species. The bias of this assumption could be discarded due to the small sample size.…”

Diet of the Eurasian otter Lutra lutra on small watercourses in Western Poland

“…All otter spraints, food remains and other traces of their presence were collected. Analysis followed the standard procedure (Goszczyński 1974, Jędrzejewska et al 2001): faeces were dried, washed on a sieve with a mesh diameter of 0.5 mm and dried again. Identification of the prey was made using a binocular microscope (10=2-4 magnification).…”

Habitat preference of geese is affected by livestock grazing ‐ seasonal variation in an experimental field evaluation

“…Disse korrektionsfaktorer er udviklet ud fra fodringsforsøg på raeve (Lockie 1959;Goszczynski 1974). Korrektionsfaktorerne fra den nyeste af disse undersøgelser er følgende: gnaver (23), fugl (35), hare-kanin (50) og rådyr (118).…”