Composición y calidad de la dieta del ciervo (Cervus elaphus L.) en el norte de la península ibérica

Abstract

Plant composition and quality of the red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) diet in the northern Iberian peninsula

The feeding pattern of red deer varies greatly among the different European populations. The aim of our study was to elucidate the plant composition and the quality of the red deer diet in the Pyrenees (Northern Iberian peninsula). Over a one-year period, the red deer fed mainly on browse, pines being the main food. However, unlike other populations on the Iberian peninsula, consumption of herbaceous plants was higher than browse in the spring-summer period. Nevertheless, the diet of Pyrenean red deer shared some features with the Mediterranean populations such as browsing on woody legumes. Fecal nitrogen content, as an index of diet quality, showed low annual values with a marked decrease in winter. The overall feeding pattern was similar to that of other Central European populations. The large size of the surveyed population probably affected its high level of browse consumption and poor quality diet.