Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components
Herbivorous ungulate diets affect population performance and overall forest health through balanced interactions on plant-herbivore relations; therefore, understanding them is critical. Faeces are frequently used in ungulate nutritional ecology because they can provide information about animals'...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Forest Science |
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| Online Access: | https://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/jfs-202303-0003_are-they-both-the-same-shit-winter-faeces-of-roe-and-red-deer-show-no-difference-in-nutritional-components.php |
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| author | Stipan Čupić Miloš Ježek Francisco Ceacero |
| author_facet | Stipan Čupić Miloš Ježek Francisco Ceacero |
| author_sort | Stipan Čupić |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Herbivorous ungulate diets affect population performance and overall forest health through balanced interactions on plant-herbivore relations; therefore, understanding them is critical. Faeces are frequently used in ungulate nutritional ecology because they can provide information about animals' digestive efficiency. Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) have different morpho-physiological and ecological constraints, and these differences should be reflected in their faeces. On the other hand, the lack of information about the animal (sex, age, reproductive status, diet selection, etc.) may be challenging for such studies. This study aimed to detect species' different susceptibility to these factors reflected in animals' faeces. Thus, we hypothesised that near-infrared reflectance spectrometry (NIRS) could distinguish between the faecal nutrients of two cervids. We collected 94 usable faeces from both species along the forest transect in Bohemian forests in the Czech Republic, covering 2 500 ha. Roe and red deer overlap was determined using the four faecal nutritional components on two axes. No discrimination occurred, refuting our hypothesis and highlighting that out-of-control variables are critical for faecal studies in uncontrolled settings. Fibrous parts explained the most variance (48%), indicating animals' strong reliance on nutrition quality. Apparently, uncontrolled supplementary feeding produced similar faecal nutrient outcomes during the nutrition-limiting winter, which was theoretically supported by the animal's response to predation and hunting pressure. The inability of NIRS to identify the source of N in faeces may also explain the lack of discrimination. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:02:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f18b1d228f784a69bb4b1bf8cd47ebb4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1212-4834 1805-935X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T21:02:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Forest Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-f18b1d228f784a69bb4b1bf8cd47ebb42023-03-29T08:10:37ZengCzech Academy of Agricultural SciencesJournal of Forest Science1212-48341805-935X2023-03-0169311412310.17221/19/2023-JFSjfs-202303-0003Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional componentsStipan Čupić0Miloš Ježek1Francisco Ceacero2Department of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Game Management and Wildlife Biology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Animal Science and Food Processing, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech RepublicHerbivorous ungulate diets affect population performance and overall forest health through balanced interactions on plant-herbivore relations; therefore, understanding them is critical. Faeces are frequently used in ungulate nutritional ecology because they can provide information about animals' digestive efficiency. Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) have different morpho-physiological and ecological constraints, and these differences should be reflected in their faeces. On the other hand, the lack of information about the animal (sex, age, reproductive status, diet selection, etc.) may be challenging for such studies. This study aimed to detect species' different susceptibility to these factors reflected in animals' faeces. Thus, we hypothesised that near-infrared reflectance spectrometry (NIRS) could distinguish between the faecal nutrients of two cervids. We collected 94 usable faeces from both species along the forest transect in Bohemian forests in the Czech Republic, covering 2 500 ha. Roe and red deer overlap was determined using the four faecal nutritional components on two axes. No discrimination occurred, refuting our hypothesis and highlighting that out-of-control variables are critical for faecal studies in uncontrolled settings. Fibrous parts explained the most variance (48%), indicating animals' strong reliance on nutrition quality. Apparently, uncontrolled supplementary feeding produced similar faecal nutrient outcomes during the nutrition-limiting winter, which was theoretically supported by the animal's response to predation and hunting pressure. The inability of NIRS to identify the source of N in faeces may also explain the lack of discrimination.https://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/jfs-202303-0003_are-they-both-the-same-shit-winter-faeces-of-roe-and-red-deer-show-no-difference-in-nutritional-components.phpcapreolus capreolus cervus elaphus diet overlapfaecal nutrientsfibrenitrogennutritional ecology |
| spellingShingle | Stipan Čupić Miloš Ježek Francisco Ceacero Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components Journal of Forest Science capreolus capreolus cervus elaphus diet overlap faecal nutrients fibre nitrogen nutritional ecology |
| title | Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| title_full | Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| title_fullStr | Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| title_full_unstemmed | Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| title_short | Are they both the same shit? Winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| title_sort | are they both the same shit winter faeces of roe and red deer show no difference in nutritional components |
| topic | capreolus capreolus cervus elaphus diet overlap faecal nutrients fibre nitrogen nutritional ecology |
| url | https://jfs.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/jfs-202303-0003_are-they-both-the-same-shit-winter-faeces-of-roe-and-red-deer-show-no-difference-in-nutritional-components.php |
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