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Autumn-winter diet overlap of fallow, red, and roe deer in forest ecosystems, Southern Poland

  • Research Article
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Central European Journal of Biology

Abstract

The wild population of fallow deer in Central Europe has grown considerably over the last decade. However, information on feeding habits of this alien species in relation to the indigenous red deer or roe deer, in areas of their co-occurrence, is scarce. A prevailing view maintains that their food-niches are distinct, although direct comparative studies have not been carried out. Therefore, the aim of the research was to compare the diets of fallow, red, and roe deer feeding in the same habitat. Research was based on the rumen contents of 242 animals hunted in the autumn-winter season in the forests of Southern Poland. The analyses demonstrated that fallow deer are moderate grazers in such conditions and eat more graminoids in comparison to red or roe deer (36.4% vs. 16.1% or 5.5%, respectively). On the other hand, it feeds on less browse (17.2% vs. 41.4%) or dwarf shrubs (8.4% vs. 19.0%) than red deer, and on less bramble (10.9% vs. 34.6%) or forbs (4.0% vs. 7.6%) in comparison to roe deer (P=0.05). Although the diets of the three deer species differ in terms of the proportion of each food type in their diet, overlapping of their food-niches is high (52.6%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-776, Warsaw, Poland

    Artur Obidziński

  2. Faculty of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, 01-938, Warsaw, Poland

    Piotr Kiełtyk

  3. Department of Forest Ecology, Forest Research Institute, 05-090, Sękocin Las, Poland

    Jakub Borkowski & Karolina Remuszko

  4. Department of Forestry and Forest Ecology, University of Warmia and Mazury, 10-727, Olsztyn, Poland

    Jakub Borkowski

  5. Department of Silviculture, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-776, Warsaw, Poland

    Leszek Bolibok

  6. Forest Directorate Wielbark, 12-160, Wielbark, Poland

    Karolina Remuszko

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  1. Artur Obidziński
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  2. Piotr Kiełtyk
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  3. Jakub Borkowski
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  4. Leszek Bolibok
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  5. Karolina Remuszko
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Correspondence to Artur Obidziński.

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Obidziński, A., Kiełtyk, P., Borkowski, J. et al. Autumn-winter diet overlap of fallow, red, and roe deer in forest ecosystems, Southern Poland. cent.eur.j.biol. 8, 8–17 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11535-012-0108-2

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