Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands
In mainland areas, mountain hares seem unable to survive on a single browse species. However, mountain hares on islands off the west coast of Sweden rely almost entirely on a plain heather diet during winter. Herein, we give as a possible explanation for this phenomenon that the high concentration o...
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Canadian Science Publishing
1987
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z87-330 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z87-330 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z87-330 2023-12-17T10:33:08+01:00 Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands Angerbjörn, Anders Pehrson, Åke 1987 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z87-330 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z87-330 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 65, issue 9, page 2163-2167 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 1987 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z87-330 2023-11-19T13:39:26Z In mainland areas, mountain hares seem unable to survive on a single browse species. However, mountain hares on islands off the west coast of Sweden rely almost entirely on a plain heather diet during winter. Herein, we give as a possible explanation for this phenomenon that the high concentration of sodium in the heather in the coastal areas can buffer the high sodium excretion otherwise observed in hares feeding on heather under experimental conditions. Furthermore, hares selected heather with the highest nitrogen and phosphorus contents. We argue that the pattern of food choice exhibited by the hares in the coastal area is to be expected in homogenous habitats where hares rely on one dominant food species. In heterogenous habitats, the possibility of food selection on a nutritional level is to a considerable extent overridden by effects of digestibility and concentration of secondary compounds in the different food plants available. Article in Journal/Newspaper Lepus timidus Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canadian Journal of Zoology 65 9 2163 2167 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Angerbjörn, Anders Pehrson, Åke Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
In mainland areas, mountain hares seem unable to survive on a single browse species. However, mountain hares on islands off the west coast of Sweden rely almost entirely on a plain heather diet during winter. Herein, we give as a possible explanation for this phenomenon that the high concentration of sodium in the heather in the coastal areas can buffer the high sodium excretion otherwise observed in hares feeding on heather under experimental conditions. Furthermore, hares selected heather with the highest nitrogen and phosphorus contents. We argue that the pattern of food choice exhibited by the hares in the coastal area is to be expected in homogenous habitats where hares rely on one dominant food species. In heterogenous habitats, the possibility of food selection on a nutritional level is to a considerable extent overridden by effects of digestibility and concentration of secondary compounds in the different food plants available. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Angerbjörn, Anders Pehrson, Åke |
author_facet |
Angerbjörn, Anders Pehrson, Åke |
author_sort |
Angerbjörn, Anders |
title |
Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
title_short |
Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
title_full |
Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
title_fullStr |
Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( Lepus timidus L.) on Swedish coastal islands |
title_sort |
factors influencing winter food choice by mountain hares ( lepus timidus l.) on swedish coastal islands |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1987 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z87-330 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z87-330 |
genre |
Lepus timidus |
genre_facet |
Lepus timidus |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 65, issue 9, page 2163-2167 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z87-330 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
65 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2163 |
op_container_end_page |
2167 |
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1785587044277288960 |