Food plant selection by the wild Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) with reference to the traces eaten |
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| Authors: | Yoshitaka DEGUCHI Shusuke SATO Kazuo SUGAWARA |
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| Institution: | Land Ecology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Narugo-machi, Miyagi-ken, Japan |
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| Abstract: | Vegetation and plants eaten by the serow were investigated once a month from spring to autumn in two areas with different vegetative composition of deciduous broad‐leaved trees and forbs. Then we calculated Ivlev's electivity indices (EI) for some plant species and six plant groups: the deciduous broad‐leaved tree, the evergreen broad‐leaved tree, the conifer, the forb, the graminoid and the fern. In Area 1, the frequency of deciduous broad‐leaved trees and forbs was 78.2% and 1.1%, respectively. The proportion of deciduous broad‐leaved trees and forbs eaten was 65.9% and 33.1%, respectively. In Area 2, the frequency of deciduous broad‐leaved trees and forbs was 32.4% and 23.1%, respectively. The proportion of deciduous broad‐leaved trees and forbs eaten was 46.9% and 52.0%, respectively. In Area 1, the deciduous broad‐leaved tree was eaten in proportion to its frequency in the habitat (EI, 0.06–0.05) except in May (?0.32) and June (?0.11). The deciduous broad‐leaved tree was a little selected in Area 2 (0.02–0.46) except in June (?0.41) when serows selected some forb species. In Area 2, forbs were selected throughout the observational period (0.16–0.97), except during July (?0.05) when serows fed mainly on deciduous broad‐leaved trees (0.46). |
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| Keywords: | deciduous tree feeding forb Japanese serow pest animal preference |
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