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Diet selection by European hares (Lepus europaeus) in the alpine zone of the Snowy Mountains, Australia
- Source :
- European Journal of Wildlife Research. 59:693-703
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2013.
-
Abstract
- European hares (Lepus europaeus) are grazers and open grassland specialists that are replaced in mountain areas of their natural range in the northern hemisphere by browsing/intermediate feeding mountain hares (Lepus timidus), but in their introduced range in the southern hemisphere, occupy the alpine zone. We used micro-histological identification of plant fragments and germination of seeds in faecal pellets of L. europaeus from the Snowy Mountains, Australia, to determine diet. We asked whether diet shifted and/or diet breadth expanded in response to seasonally reduced food availability, particularly during winter. If so, did the constraints of food availability in the alpine zone lead to the diet mirroring that of L. timidus in its native alpine habitat. The diet of L. europaeus was dominated by grasses, herbs and shrubs. The main diet items in summer were grasses (70 %) and herbs (28 %). Grasses declined in the diet between summer and autumn when herbs increased to co-dominance, with a further change after establishment of the winter snowpack to a greater preponderance of shrubs (43 % compared with a maximum of 3 % in snow-free months). L. europaeus selected a wider range of plants in winter (59 species compared with 39 in summer) and diet was significantly more variable in winter than in autumn or summer (and in autumn than summer). We concluded that the persistence of L. europaeus in alpine areas of the southern hemisphere is testament to their ability to expand their dietary breadth to occupy mountain climatic zones normally occupied by L. timidus.
- Subjects :
- geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
Range (biology)
Ecology
Northern Hemisphere
food and beverages
Alpine climate
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Biology
biology.organism_classification
Grassland
Habitat
Germination
Lepus timidus
Southern Hemisphere
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14390574 and 16124642
- Volume :
- 59
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- European Journal of Wildlife Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........fe1703afb415d01f0a529016ae0267bf