Winter diet of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygus) in the forestgrassland ecotone in Inner Mongolia, China

ZHOU Liangjun; WANG Lin; WEI Kaili; ZHANG Minghai; ZHANG Weiqi

doi:10.16829/j.slxb.150596

ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA >

2022 , Vol. 42 >Issue 3: 240 - 249

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16829/j.slxb.150596

ORIGINAL PAPERS

Winter diet of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygus) in the forestgrassland ecotone in Inner Mongolia, China

ZHOU Liangjun ,
WANG Lin ,
WEI Kaili ,
ZHANG Minghai ,
ZHANG Weiqi

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College of Wildlife and Protected Area, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

Received date: 2021-08-12

Revised date: 2022-02-23

Online published: 2022-02-23

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Abstract

Coldness and snow cover in harsh winters pressure red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygus) inhabiting the Inner Mongolia forest-grassland ecotone to balance their nutrient and energy requirements. The main dietary portion of twigs from woody plants in winter is inadequate in the forest-grassland ecotone. In the winters of 2019 and 2020, we respectively collected 33 and 65 fecal samples of wild red deer in Gaogesitai Hanwula National Natural Reserve, Inner Mongolia, constituting 98 individual samples for feeding habit analysis. The food composition of red deer was analyzed via fecal microscopic analysis, and the patterns of feeding similarity between individual red deer were determined through detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) applied to the food composition data. The red deer ate 22 species (family) of plants in two winters, mainly including Quercus mongolica, Armeniaca sibirica, Salix rosmarinifolia, and Poaceae spp. A large percentage (9. 88%) of plants consumed by red deer in the winter of 2020 consisted of Picea asperata, which was not found in the samples from 2019. During the two winters, most red deer mainly foraged for deciduous trees and shrubs, such as Quercus mongolica, Armeniaca sibirica, Salix rosmarinifolia, and Ulmus pumila, and a high proportion foraged for Poaceae spp. A few individuals fed largely on Picea asperata when there was a food shortage. The consumption of Poaceae spp. and Picea asperata were the factors contributing to the variation in food composition.These results provide fundamental data for research on the nutritional ecology of red deer.

Key words： Red deer; Winter; Food composition pattern; Detrended correspondence analysis

Cite this article

ZHOU Liangjun , WANG Lin , WEI Kaili , ZHANG Minghai , ZHANG Weiqi . Winter diet of wild red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygus) in the forestgrassland ecotone in Inner Mongolia, China[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2022 , 42(3) : 240 -249 . DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150596

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