Importance of alternative food resources for browsing by roe deer on deciduous trees: The role of food availability and species quality
Importance of alternative food resources for browsing by roe deer on deciduous trees: The role of food availability and species quality
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狍子在落叶树上觅食的替代食物资源的重要性：食物供应和物种质量的作用
DOI：
10.1016/j.foreco.2006.01.045
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发表时间：
2006
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Karin E. Hindenlang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
B. Moser;M. Schütz;Karin E. Hindenlang
人们普遍认为，有蹄类动物在幼树上觅食是森林更新的一个问题。尽管目前的研究报道了有争议的结果，但有研究表明，当有大量的替代饲料，如草本植物或灌木时，浏览树木的强度就会降低。我们认为，对于有选择性的食草动物，如黄花鹿，替代饲料的作用不仅取决于植物物种的丰富性，还取决于植物的质量和进行选择的食物资源单位。因此，我们测试了马鹿是否比其他斑块更密集地使用具有更高质量食物的饲料斑块，以及它们是否在饲料斑块内选择高质量的物种。此外，我们还比较了在落叶树上的浏览量与可替代的、更高质量的饲料的可用性。这项研究是在瑞士北部低地的一片落叶林中进行的。公鹿既选择了高质量的牧草斑块，也选择了斑块内的高质量植物种群。个体植物种群的选择取决于它们的季节性供应和营养质量。悬钩子属(Rubus spp.)在所有物种组中相对质量最高，并且在所有季节都被用于超过比例的盖度。相比之下，落叶树只在夏季营养质量高峰期被挑选出来，并在冬季和春季根据供应情况使用。我们认为，替代食物资源的可获得性和相对质量是影响马鹿在落叶乔木上觅食的关键因素。由于可获得性和营养质量随季节变化，替代食物资源的重要性因季节而异。
Ungulate browsing on young trees is widely regarded as a problem for forest regeneration. It has been suggested that browsing on trees is less intense when there is abundant alternative forage such as herbs or shrubs, although present studies reported controversial results. We suggest that in case of selective browsers such as roe deer Capreolus capreolus the role of alternative forage does not only depend on plant species abundance but also on plant quality and the food resource units among which selection takes place. Thus, we tested whether roe deer use forage patches with higher quality food more intensively than other patches and whether they select high quality species within forage patches. Furthermore, we compared the amount of browsing on deciduous trees with the availability of alternative, higher quality forage. The study was conducted in a deciduous forest in the northern lowlands of Switzerland. Roe deer selected both high quality forage patches as well as high quality plant species groups within patches. Selection of individual plant species groups depended on their seasonal availability and nutritional quality. Rubus spp. had the highest relative quality of all species groups and was used more than in proportion to cover in all seasons. In contrast, deciduous trees were only selected during the peak of their nutritional quality in summer and used according to availability in winter and spring. We conclude that availability and relative quality of alternative food resources are key factors for browsing by roe deer on deciduous trees. Since availability and nutritional quality are seasonally variable, the importance of alternative food resources changes between seasons.