Artículo
Diet of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and food availability in northern Patagonia (Mendoza, Argentina)
Fecha de publicación:
07/2007
Editorial:
Springer
Revista:
Mammalian Biology
ISSN:
1616-5047
Idioma:
Inglés
Tipo de recurso:
Artículo publicado
Clasificación temática:
Resumen
The brown hare, a Leporid widespread in the world, is now dispersed across Argentina after its introduction at the end of the 19th century. Studies on hare feeding ecology are important to evaluate a potential competition with domestic and native wild herbivores. This study analyses the brown hare diet in relation to food availability, and dietary overlaps with several herbivores in northern Patagonia. Food availability was estimated by point-quadrat transects, and hare diet by microhistological analysis of faeces, carried out in five habitats in five seasonal samplings. Significant differences were detected by Kruskall-Wallis ANOVA with multiple comparisons by Tukey test. Feeding selection was detected by χ2 test, and dietary preferences by the confidence interval of Bailey. Grasses and chamaephytes were the most available plant categories, with Stipa, Panicum and Acantholippia as main species. Grasses and phanerophytes were the main dietary categories, including Poa, Panicum, Bromus, Adesmia and Prosopidastrum. The phanerophytes Prosopidastrum and Ephedra were more eaten in winter, when the main food item (Poa) presented lower availability. A higher dietary proportion of the chamaephyte Acantholippia occurred in rocky habitats, where the coarse dominant grasses were always avoided. Hares shared most food items with several wild and domestic herbivores in northern Patagonia. The lack of preference for forbs differentiates brown hares from other herbivores. However, hares exhibited important dietary similarities with plain and mountain vizcachas, goats and horses, and an interspecific competition for food is highly probable.
Palabras clave:
LAGOMORPHS
,
ARID ENVIRONMENTS
,
FEEDING ECOLOGY
Archivos asociados
Licencia
Identificadores
Colecciones
Articulos(IADIZA)
Articulos de INST. ARG DE INVEST. DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS
Articulos de INST. ARG DE INVEST. DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS
Citación
Puig, Silvia; Videla, Fernando; Cona, Monica Ines; Monge, Adela Susana; Diet of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and food availability in northern Patagonia (Mendoza, Argentina); Springer; Mammalian Biology; 72; 4; 7-2007; 240-250
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