NDLI: A typical browser, the roe deer, may consume substantial quantities of grasses in open landscapes

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Abbas, Frial Picot, Denis Merlet, Joël Cargnelutti, Bru Lourtet, Bru Angibault, Jean Marc Daufresne, Tanguy Aulagnier, Stéphane Verheyden, Hélène
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	In open landscapes, grass leaves provide an abundant resource for ruminants, with potentially high nutritional value. However, their extensive digestion requires a long fermentation time, achieved through large rumen and the stratification of the rumen content. Due to anatomical and physiological differences, ruminants differ in their ability to process grass leaves. Particularly, the small roe deer, with its viscous saliva and unstratified rumen content, is generally classified as a strict browser. We hypothesised that roe deer may be able to use grass leaves in some circumstances, notably when the availability of other resources declines and when the quality of grass leaves is high. We expected that (1) grass leave consumption should be higher in open landscapes than in forest habitat because grasses are more widely available and more nutritious in open landscapes and (2) grass leave consumption should increase in winter when the availability of other resources declines. We assessed grass consumption by microscopic analysis of roe deer faecal pellets collected monthly both in forest habitat and in the surrounding open landscape. We found that both the occurrence and the proportion of grass leaves in the faeces were higher in the open landscape (predicted mean proportion 0.31) than in the forest (predicted mean proportion 0.05). In addition, the proportion of grass leaves in the faeces was higher in winter and lower in spring in both forest and open landscape. We suggest that roe deer are able to use grass leaves with unusually high nutritional quality in winter in this mild climate area. This involves a certain level of digestive plasticity to efficiently digest high quality grasses and may confer nutritional benefit to individuals feeding in an open landscape.
Starting Page	69
Ending Page	75
Page Count	7
File Format	PDF
ISSN	16124642
Journal	European Journal of Wildlife Research
Volume Number	59
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	14390574
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2012-07-20
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Grazer Browser Habitat Fibre Digestion Zoology Animal Ecology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation

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