Using carbon isotope analysis of the diet of two introduced Australian megaherbivores to understand Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions

Aim Australia lost a diverse assemblage of large marsupial herbivores in the late Pleistocene, with suggestions that the extinctions were biased towards browsers. In modern times two bovines, the Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and banteng (Bos javanicus), have established feral populations in the Northern Territory, Australia. Buffalo have aggressively expanded throughout the savanna landscape, yet banteng remain near their point of introduction on the Cobourg Peninsula. We hypothesized that this difference is related to feeding ecology, possibly reflecting a legacy of the Pleistocene extinctions. Location Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Methods Analysing a previously published dataset of body mass and feeding ecology of extinct and extant marsupial herbivores, we evaluated whether browsers were at greater risk of extinction than grazers. We compared the carbon isotope composition and nitrogen content of banteng and buffalo dung in order to evaluate the hypotheses that the differences in invasion success are related to feeding ecology, and that seasonal variation in browse consumption is linked to changing nutritional quality of grass. Results Controlling for body mass, the Pleistocene extinctions were clearly biased towards browsers. Introduced banteng appear to be primarily browsers, with their diets comprising 40% grass in the wet season and 15% in the late dry season. Buffalo have a more variable diet, with an increasing proportion of browse from the wet (30%) to the late dry season (75%), and can therefore be described as switching from grazer to browser. The decline of grass in the diet of both species appears to reflect the decline in the nutritional value of grass through the dry season, an inference supported by the negative relationship between δ¹³C values and the nitrogen content of dung. Main conclusions Banteng and buffalo are much larger than extant native herbivores, of which browsers are restricted to isolated rocky habitats. This suggests that banteng and buffalo have filled niches made vacant following the Pleistocene extinctions. The success of buffalo appears to be related to their greater dietary breadth, which enables them to graze and browse in eucalypt savannas, whilst the browsing banteng remain tethered to a mosaic of rain forest patches. The restriction of browsers may be a long‐range consequence of habitat transformations associated with Aboriginal landscape burning.     

Seasonal change in the composition of the diet of eastern lowland gorillas

Details are presented of the composition of the diet of eastern lowland gorillas, derived mainly from a study of their fresh trails and fecal analysis, during the course of an entire year in the tropical lowland forests of the Itebero region, Zaire. Gorillas ate 194 plant foods from 121 species and 45 families. They consumed 48 species of fruits; and 89% of fecal samples contained fruit seeds, but fruits were a relatively small part (25%) of the total number of food items. The composition of their diet changed seasonally. When consumption of fruit decreased in the long rainy and the long dry seasons, the gorillas ate, in addition to Zingiberaceae and Marantaceae, many kinds of leaf and bark, which may be an important buffer against the shortage of fruits. Gorillas also fed regularly on ants (Ponerinae), and the frequency of consumption showed small seasonal variations. From a comparison of diet composition, eastern lowland gorillas appeared to be intermediate between the other two subspecies. The choice of food showed differences in preference of fruits and insects between subspecies and may reflect high similarities within subspecies in lowland and montane forests.     

Spatio‐temporal feeding selection of red deer in a mountainous landscape

Understanding the dietary consumption and selection of wild populations of generalist herbivores is hampered by the complex array of factors. Here, we determine the influence of habitat, season, and animal density, sex, and age on the diet consumption and selection of 426 red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus) culled in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. Our site differs from studies elsewhere both in habitat (evergreen angiosperm‐dominated forests) and the intensity of hunting pressures. We predicted that deer would not consume forage in proportion to its relative availability, and that dietary consumption would change among and within years in response to hunting pressures that would also limit opportunities for age and sex segregation. Using canonical correspondence analysis, we evaluated the relative importance of different drivers of variation in diet consumption assessed from gut content and related these to available forage in the environment. We found that altitude explained the largest proportion of variation in diet consumption, reflecting the ability of deer to alter their consumption and selection in relation to their foraging grounds. Grasses formed a high proportion of the diet consumption, even for deer culled several kilometres from the alpine grasslands. In the winter months, when the alpine grasslands were largely inaccessible, less grass was eaten and deer resorted to woody plants that were avoided in the summer months. Surprisingly, there were no significant dietary differences between adults and juveniles and only subtle differences between the sexes. Sex‐based differences in diet consumption are commonly observed in ungulate species and we suggest that they may have been reduced in our study area owing to decreased heterogeneity in available forage as the diversity of palatable species decreased under high deer browsing pressures, or by intense hunting pressure.     

Seed limitation of woody plants in Neotropical savannas

The failure of seeds to arrive at all suitable sites (seed limitation) greatly affects plant distribution and abundance. In contrast to tropical forests, the degree of seed limitation in Neotropical savannas is unclear because empirical studies at the community level are scarce. We estimated seed limitation of 23 woody species from annual seed rain measurements along a tree density gradient in the savannas of Central Brazil. These savannas differ in tree density and canopy cover, from closed to open savannas, and are located along shallow topographic gradients. We also studied post-dispersal seed predation and removal of 17 representative woody species, and seed viability loss over time of 12 common woody species under dry-storage conditions. Annual seed rain was lower in open (410 seeds/m²) than in closed savannas (773 seeds/m²). Average seed limitation across woody species was higher than 80% along the tree density gradient. More than 60% of seeds of the studied woody species were predated or removed within 30–45 days in all savannah types. Seeds of most common woody species (66%) lost their viability in less than 12 months of dry storage. This study shows that Neotropical savannah woody plants are strongly seed-limited because of low and poor distribution of seeds among sites, post-dispersal seed removal, and short seed longevity. The high seed limitation of tree species in Neotropical savannas, particularly in open savannas, also may contribute to maintain their relatively low tree densities and help to explain the spatial variation of tree abundance along topographic gradients.     

Intraspecific Strategic Responses of African Elephants to Temporal Variation in Forage Quality

ABSTRACT Mammalian herbivores adopt foraging strategies to optimize nutritional trade-offs against restrictions imposed by body size, nutritional requirements, digestive anatomy, physiology, and the forage resource they exploit. Selective or generalist feeding strategies scale with body size across species. However, within species, where constraints should be most similar, responses to limitation have rarely been examined. We used African elephants (Loxodonta Africana) to test for changes in seasonal diet quality of individuals of differing body size and sex through measurement of fecal nitrogen and phosphorus. We measured physiological stress response of these age and sex classes to seasonal change by fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels (i.e., stress hormones). Large body size increased tolerance to lower-quality forage. Adult males and females exhibited divergent trends; females had higher diet quality than males, irrespective of body size. When limited by forage availability or quality during the dry season, diet quality declined across all body sizes, but weaned calves ingested a higher-quality diet than larger-bodied adults. On release from restriction during the wet season, weaned calf nitrogen concentrations were consistently high and stress hormone levels decreased, whereas adult female phosphorus levels were highest and less variable and stress hormone levels were unchanged. The ability to adjust forage quality is an important strategy used to ensure adequate nutritional intake according to body size limitations. Although body size is a key determining factor of dietary differences between adult elephants, foraging strategies are also driven by specific nutritional requirements, which may override the body size effects driving foraging decisions in some cases. The diversity of intraspecific response highlights ecologically segregated entities within a species and should be a concern for population management planning, particularly for threatened species. Fecal diet quality and stress hormone analysis could provide an early and sensitive indicator for monitoring age and sex class responses to resource restriction in high-density elephant populations.     

Food habits of sambar <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cervus unicolor</Emphasis> at the Horton Plains National Park,Sri Lanka

The sambar Cervus unicolor has a large population in southern Asia. In Sri Lanka, its habitat use is most common among the four cervid species. We carried out an analysis of the food habits of sambar in the Horton Plains National Park from January to November 1991 by using the quantitative fecal analysis method. Analyses of sambar feces collected at the three habitats (two grassland communities and a forest) in the Horton Plains National Park found that the sambar diet largely consisted of graminoid leaves; 45–78% in grasslands and 43–60% in the forest. The analyses also found that the proportion of graminoid leaves in early summer (52–78%) was greater than it was in winter (43–49%). In spring and summer, different varieties of graminoids were consumed by sambar, whereas dicotyledonous plants were consumed in winter. The fecal nitrogen level did not fall below the critical level of their nutrition (1.1%), indicating that sambar food quality in the Horton Plains was sufficient. A large proportion of Pennisetum spp., exotic grasses (10–39%) were found in the fecal compositions collected in the Pennisetum community. This could be because of the high biomass and high nitrogen concentration (approximately 2.4%) of Pennisetum and its low-growing nature. From the present study, we found that in order for sambar, a native ungulate, not to increase in number, the growth of exotic plants such as Pennisetum needs to be controlled.     

黑斑羚粪便中碳同位素揭示的食性变化

利用稳定碳同位素数据(δ13C)分析了南非克鲁格国家公园混食性黑斑羚(Aepyceros melampus)时间和空间尺度上的食性变化,验证了两个假说,即有蹄类食性变化是由生境中木本植物与草本植物的相对配比导致;降雨控制有蹄类生态。结果表明:黑斑羚的食性涵盖了精食者-粗食者采食谱系,且食性中木本与草本比例在不同月间、季节、年度和区域间存在很大变化。栖息于开放性热带稀树草原和草原中的黑斑羚通常采食比生境中更高比例的草本,但在时间尺度上并不恒定。在克鲁格北部的一个区域(Punda Maria) ,黑斑羚采食的草本比克鲁格国家公园中其它任何区域都多。与其它生境相比,在河边的黑斑羚采食草本数量更少,尤其是在食性空间变化更为明显的旱季。因此,我们的数据不支持有蹄类食性组成变化是由生境中木本与草本比例不同造成的假说,食性与降雨量间也无明显的关系。我们的结果支持草本中蛋白含量增加引起黑斑羚采食比例的增加这一模型。粪便中氮含量在时间和空间上的变化很小,揭示在可利用食物中,无论木本还是草本,黑斑羚进行选择采食以保证最好的食物质量。基于这些结果,我们认为更具体的食物选择和可利用性最适采食理论能够更好地解释这种生态学变化。     

More efficient mastication allows increasing intake without compromising digestibility or necessitating a larger gut: Comparative feeding trials in banteng (Bos javanicus) and pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis)

The digestion of plant material in mammalian herbivores basically depends on the chemical and structural composition of the diet, the mean particle size to which the forage is processed, and the ingesta retention time. These different factors can be influenced by the animal, and they can presumably compensate for each other. The pygmy hippopotamus, a non-ruminating foregut fermenter, has longer mean retention times than ruminants; however hippos do not achieve higher (fibre) digestibilities on comparable diets, which could be due to ineffective mastication. We performed feeding trials with six pygmy hippos (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) and six banteng cattle (Bos javanicus) on a grass diet. As predicted, both species achieved similar dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and gross energy digestibilities. However, neutral and acid detergent fibre digestibility was lower in pygmy hippos. Apparently, in these species, fibre digestibility was more influenced by particle size, which was larger in pygmy hippos compared to banteng, than by retention time. In spite of their higher relative food intake, the banteng in this study did not have greater relative gut fills than the hippos. Ruminants traditionally appear intake-limited when compared to equids, because feed particles above a certain size cannot leave the rumen. But when compared to nonruminating foregut fermenters, rumination seems to free foregut fermenters from an intrinsic food intake limitation. The higher energy intakes and metabolic rates in wild cattle compared to hippos could have life-history consequences, such as a higher relative reproductive rate.     

Role of mixed‐species flocks in the use of adjacent savannas by forest birds in the central Cerrado,Brazil

Abstract: We examined the role of mixed‐species flocks for forest birds during their breeding and non‐breeding seasons in the use of savannas adjacent to forests in central Cerrado, Brazil. Transect surveys (n = 64) were conducted in eight savanna patches. Distances of birds from forests were estimated. Recorded birds were classified as members or not of mixed‐species flocks. About half of the bird species recorded in savannas were found in at least one mixed‐species flock. As distance from the forest increased, the number of species in mixed‐species flocks tended not to vary, while the number of species foraging alone or in mono‐specific groups decreased. Thus, for some forest species, participation in mixed‐species flocks allowed a greater use of more distant savannas. This tendency of being in mixed‐species flocks at greater distances from forests also can be interpreted as a reluctance to forage alone or in mono‐specific groups due to higher predation risk in less protective vegetation distant from cover. There was strong seasonal variation in the participation of bird species in mixed‐species flocks. There were significantly more species in mixed‐species flocks than out of these associations in the non‐breeding season, while differences in the breeding season were not significant. These patterns occurred, in part because mixed‐species flocks tended to be more frequent, to have more species and to forage at greater distances from forests during the early non‐breeding season than in other periods. This study suggests that the formation of mixed‐species flocks plays an important role in promoting the use of adjacent savannas by forest birds at forest/savanna boundaries in Cerrado. It also pointed out a novel advantage gained by birds with participation in mixed‐species flocks – greater use of adjacent vegetation patches.     

Seasonal Shifts in Diet and Gut Microbiota of the American Bison (Bison bison)

North American bison (Bison bison) are becoming increasingly important to both grassland management and commercial ranching. However, a lack of quantitative data on their diet constrains conservation efforts and the ability to predict bison effects on grasslands. In particular, we know little about the seasonality of the bison diet, the degree to which bison supplement their diet with eudicots, and how changes in diet influence gut microbial communities, all of which play important roles in ungulate performance. To address these knowledge gaps, we quantified seasonal patterns in bison diet and gut microbial community composition for a bison herd in Kansas using DNA sequencing-based analyses of both chloroplast and microbial DNA contained in fecal matter. Across the 11 sampling dates that spanned 166 days, we found that diet shifted continuously over the growing season, allowing bison to take advantage of the seasonal availability of high-protein plant species. Bison consumed more woody shrubs in spring and fall than in summer, when forb and grass intake predominated. In examining gut microbiota, the bacterial phylum Tenericutes shifted significantly in relative abundance over the growing season. This work suggests that North American bison can continuously adjust their diet with a high reliance on non-grasses throughout the year. In addition, we find evidence for seasonal patterns in gut community composition that are likely driven by the observed dietary changes.     

Diet and Prey Selection of Dholes in Evergreen and Deciduous Forests of Southeast Asia

Endangered dholes (Cuon alpinus) are restricted to small and declining populations in Southeast Asia, and little is known about how their ecology differs within the region. We used DNA-confirmed scats and prey surveys to determine the seasonal diet and prey selection of dholes in 2 different landscapes that dominate Southeast Asia: closed evergreen forests in hilly terrain in northern Laos, and open deciduous forests in relatively flat terrain in eastern Cambodia. On both sites, muntjac (Muntiacus spp.; 20–28 kg) was the dominant prey item and was selectively consumed over other ungulates in all seasons. Our findings differ from previous conclusions, based largely on studies from India, that the preferred prey weight range of dholes was either 40–60 kg or 130–190 kg. Other important prey were sambar (Rusa unicolor) in Laos, and wild pig (Sus scrofa) and banteng (Bos javanicus) in Cambodia. Seasonal differences in overall diet occurred in Laos, but not Cambodia, primarily because of an increase in livestock consumption. The mean number of dhole scats in group defecation sites was higher in Cambodia (5.9 ± 0.5 [SE]) than Laos (2.4 ± 0.2), suggesting pack sizes were larger in Cambodia. Our results suggest that regardless of land cover type, prey diversity, or pack size, the management of muntjac will be important for conserving dhole populations in Southeast Asia. In Laos, we recommend that local villagers remove livestock from the protected area during the hot-dry season to reduce livestock predation by dholes. © 2020 The Authors. The Journal of Wildlife Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Wildlife Society.     

Local and seasonal variations of roe deer diet in relation to food resource availability in a Mediterranean environment

Feeding behaviour patterns of European roe deer are well known but not in their southern range, where in contrast to Central and northern Europe the climate is characterised by mild winters, but hot and dry summer months. Spatial and temporal variations of the roe deer diet were investigated by analyses of 597 faecal samples in a coastal area in Italy. The aim was to evaluate the adaptive strategies of dietary intake to seasonal availability of different forage types in areas of fairly natural Mediterranean scrubwood and different areas dominated by agricultural habitats. A wide range of plant taxa (151 species/genera) was used, belonging to eight categories. A gradient was found from a diet dominated by woody plants and fruits in natural habitats to one characterised by cultivated plants in the agricultural areas. Usage of forage categories in areas dominated by woodland was proportional to their availability, whereas diet selection was found in the agricultural habitats, particularly marked in summer, the time at which food quantity and quality decreased due to harvest and drought. As to seasonal variation, the summer and autumn diets included more deciduous browse, whereas the winter diet was characterised by an increasing use of cereals and grass. In most areas, half-woody browse and fruit were preferred; grass and cereals were used less than expected by their availability. Most probably, selective behaviour patterns are linked to the difference of quality between plants together with their variable abundance, which is more evident in agricultural areas than in the woodland.     

Spatial density patterns of herbivore response to seasonal dynamics in the tropical deciduous forest of central India

Resource dynamism in seasonal forests leads ungulates to differential habitat preference; hence, their distribution aligns with environmental covariates across spatial and temporal scales. Seasonal patterns of four species of ungulates, namely sambar, chital, nilgai, and wild pig, were investigated and identified as the environmental variables driving the density gradient across two seasons, summer and winter, in the tropical dry deciduous forest of Panna Tiger Reserve, central India. Distance sampling data were analyzed using density surface modeling for ungulates with a survey effort of 518 km in winter and 356 km in summer in a generalized additive modeling framework. We found that season significantly affected the spatial densities of all ungulates, with sambar, chital, and nilgai congregating in summer and wild pig in winter. All ungulates showed a clear seasonal shift to the valley in summer and preferred plateaus in winter. The spatially explicit map outputs draw attention to the seasonal hot spots for ungulates abundance and the species and season-specific roles of environment variables in defining their distribution. These results provide a scientific basis for direct conservation efforts to the spatially prioritized habitats for cost-effective management interventions.     

Phylogenetic structure of Brazilian savannas under different fire regimes

Questions: Fire is a strong filter in fire‐prone communities and is expected to assemble closely related species when functional traits are conserved in plant lineages. Do frequent fires assemble savannas with closely related species (phylogenetic clustering)? If so, what are the clades pruned by fire in the phylogenetic trees? Are species of semi‐deciduous seasonal forests, where fires are not frequent, less related than expected by chance (phylogenetic over‐dispersion)? Are life forms conserved in the phylogeny of the species? Location: Central and SE Brazilian savannas (Emas National Park, 18°18′S, 52°54′W; Brasília, 15°56′–15°57′S, 47°53′–47°56′W and Corumbataí‐Itirapina, 22°13′–22°15′S, 47°37′–47°39′W); and close semi‐deciduous seasonal forests (in Pirenópolis, 15°45′S, 49°04′W; Brasília, 15°33′S, 47°51′W; and São Carlos, 21°55′S, 47°48′W). Methods: We recorded woody species in savannas under different fire regimes and in semi‐deciduous seasonal forests. We obtained data from the literature and from field sampling. We compared mean phylogenetic distance of species of savanna and of nearby semi‐deciduous seasonal forest sites. We obtained significance by randomizing the species among the tips of phylogenetic trees. We also assessed whether life forms were evolutionary conserved across phylogeny of the studied plants (phylogenetic signal) with tests based on the variance of phylogenetic independent contrasts. Results: Some sites of savanna under high fire frequency were characterized by phylogenetic over‐dispersion of woody species whereas, in contrast, some sites of semi‐deciduous seasonal forest were characterized by phylogenetic clustering. We found phylogenetic signals in the traits across the phylogeny of the 801 species investigated. Conclusion: Fire may have different roles in assembling plant species in Brazilian savannas than in other fire‐prone communities. We postulate that the absence of phylogenetic clustering in the cerrado is mainly due to the persistence of long‐lived resprouting species from different plant lineages.     

Habitat niche relationships within an assemblage of ungulates in Bardia National Park,Nepal

Species co-exist in their individual niches by partitioning resources. The main prey of the big predators – wild boar, chital, and sambar are sympatric in tropical south-Asia. In order to obtain a better understanding of their habitat use and habitat niche relationships, we used an indirect sign (faecal pellets and rooting by wild boar) survey along line transects in Bardia National Park. Ground cover, in particular grass cover for wild boar and chital, and shrub cover for chital and sambar positively affected the occurrence of ungulate signs. We found a niche differentiation between wild boar, which preferred hill sal forest and grassland, and chital and sambar, which avoided hill sal forest and grassland. Habitat niche overlap between chital and sambar in open habitat was clearly evident during the dry season. It is suggested that the fine grained habitat mosaics in space are the underlying causes of the coexistence of the ungulates studied. Therefore, focus on maintaining the habitat mosaic throughout the regions of the species’ distribution may prove successful for effective conservation management.     

Diet of the Brown Mouse Lemur (Microcebus rufus) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

The conventional notion is that small-bodied primates should be highly insectivorous in order to obtain protein and other nutrients from a food source that is more easily digestible than plant matter. I studied feeding behavior of Microcebus rufus for 16 months in the east coast rainforest of Ranomafana National Park. I determined the diet primarily through analysis of 334 fecal samples from live-trapped individuals. They consumed a mixed diet basically of fruit and insects year-round. I identified 24 fruits, while 40–52 remain unidentified. Bakerella, a high-lipid epiphytic semiparasitic plant, was in 58% of fecal samples that contained fruit seeds, and was consumed year-round irrespective of general resource availability. It served both as a staple and keystone resource. Fruit was less frequently totally absent from fecal samples of individual mouse lemurs than insect matter was. For Microcebus rufus, fruit may be a primary source of energy, not just complementary to insects. Fruit consumption increased in quantity and diversity during the latter part of the rainy season and the very early part of the dry season, when fruit production was relatively high. This pattern in fruit feeding is similar to that for mouse lemurs in the west coast dry forests and is related to specific nutritional needs dictated by the highly seasonal character of the life cycle. Coleoptera were present in 67% of samples examined and were consumed year-round by the subjects, but insect consumption did not increase during the rainy season when insect abundance was highest.     

Seasonal shifts in large mammal activity relative to fruit availability and hunting risk along a protected area boundary in Borneo

Understanding wildlife spatiotemporal dynamics at protected area boundaries is critical to conservation. In SE Asia, protected areas are often bordered by indigenous communities whose traditional practices result in increased landscape heterogeneity within their community managed forests (CF). Because SE Asian forests exhibit supra-annual mast fruiting (3–7 yrs) and sustained fruit scarcity, wildlife using CF may benefit from greater availability of fruits and seeds encouraged by traditional management, but incur greater risk of being hunted. We examined shifts in wildlife activity in forests within and adjacent to Lanjak Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary (LEWS), in Sarawak, Malaysia. Using camera traps and surveys of fruiting phenology, we related presence of fruits and seeds to shifts in large mammal activity over 3 years (October 2016–2019). We first compared relative frequency of five focal species (sun bear, bearded pig, muntjac, mouse deer, and sambar) by forest type for a given survey year and season (rainy vs. dry). We then modeled activity to assess how fruit availability, landscape features, and proxies for hunting risk, influence seasonal shifts in habitat use. Our results suggested seasonal variation in concert with increased landscape heterogeneity influenced patterns of activity. We found no evidence that CF excluded any detected mammal species, suggesting CF contribute important habitat to wildlife, particularly during periods of fruit scarcity in primary forest. However, our findings also imply increased hunting risk for wildlife attracted to resources near human settlements, emphasizing the need to consider the influence of both annual and supra-annual seasonality when developing best practices for the sustainable management.     

两种分析方法在豹猫食物构成中的应用比较

豹猫(Prionailurus bengalensis)作为北京地区的顶级食肉动物,对于维持食物网结构和生态系统稳定性起到重要的生态作用。对于捕食动物食物构成研究,较为简便的方法是粪样内容物检视法,而粪样残余物DNA鉴定技术具有更为准确细致的优势,但也存在不足,探索不同方法的优势互补,将有助于提高技术应用成效。本研究利用DNA宏条形码技术与粪样内容物分析法,对采集自北京市4个自然保护区的71份豹猫粪样进行食物构成分析,比较两种分析方法的特点,了解豹猫的食物资源利用状况。结果显示,DNA宏条形码技术共鉴别出36种猎物,来自10目22科,4个保护区的豹猫食性具有显著差异,百花山、松山、云蒙山保护区的豹猫食物种类的出现比率均以小型哺乳类为主,其中对鼠类的捕食比例最高,对鸟类的捕食次之,而分布于云峰山保护区的豹猫对鸟类捕食比例最高,对鼠类的捕食次之。粪样内容物分析法鉴别出9类猎物,其中包括昆虫和植物两种DNA宏条形码技术未检出的食物,4个保护区的豹猫食物均以鼠类和鸟类为主,且最多检测出鼠类数量为3只、鸟类2只,次要食物则为植物和昆虫。两种方法均显示北社鼠(Niviventer confucia...     

Chimpanzee feeding ecology and fallback food use in the montane forest of Nyungwe National Park,Rwanda

Almost all primates experience seasonal fluctuations in the availability of key food sources. However, the degree to which this fluctuation impacts foraging behavior varies considerably. Eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda, live in a montane forest environment characterized by lower primary productivity and resource diversity than low‐elevation forests. Little is known about chimpanzee feeding ecology in montane forests, and research to date predominantly relies on indirect methods such as fecal analyses. This study is the first to use mostly observational data to examine how seasonal food availability impacts the feeding ecology of montane forest chimpanzees. We examine seasonal changes in chimpanzee diet and fallback foods (FBFs) using instantaneous scan samples and fecal analyses, supported by inspection of feeding remains. Chimpanzee fruit abundance peaked during the major dry season, with a consequent change in chimpanzee diet reflecting the abundance and diversity of key fruit species. Terrestrial herbaceous vegetation was consumed throughout the year and is defined as a “filler” FBF. In contrast to studies conducted in lower‐elevation chimpanzee sites, figs (especially Ficus lutea) were preferred resources, flowers were consumed at seasonally high rates and the proportion of non‐fig fruits in the diet were relatively low in the current study. These divergences likely result from the comparatively low environmental diversity and productivity in higher‐elevation environments.     

Prey selection by the Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, India

Very little is known about prey selection by the Indian tiger Panthera tigris tigris in tropical dry deciduous forests or in wild herbivore-depleted habitats with high livestock pressures. We undertook a short-term study in a large south Indian tiger reserve and examined two intensive study areas (SA's) from October 1998 – June 1999. In each area, herbivore sightings were recorded, scats were collected, and wild prey and livestock kills documented. Chital, wild boar and sambar were the most abundant among the wild herbivores in the study area. Scat analysis revealed wild boar (Sus scrofa) being the most common prey followed by chital (Axis axis) and sambar (Rusa unicolor). Livestock comprised less than 7% of diet intake. Here, the tigers consumed a lower mean prey mass (56.3 kg) than in other reserves. Our study suggests that in tropical dry deciduous forests with low natural prey density, smaller prey species, and high livestock biomass, tigers preferentially kill smaller prey and generally avoid livestock predation.