Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates
Abstract Animals representing a wide range of taxonomic groups are known to select specific food combinations to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet. The nutrient balancing hypothesis suggests that, when given the opportunity, animals select foods to achieve a particular target nutrient balance, a...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4377 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecy.4377 |
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crwiley:10.1002/ecy.4377 2024-09-15T17:36:18+00:00 Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates Felton, Annika M. Spitzer, Robert Raubenheimer, David Hedwall, Per‐Ola Felton, Adam Nichols, Ruth V. O'Connell, Brendan L. Malmsten, Jonas Löfmarck, Erik Wam, Hilde K. Scottish Environment Protection Agency 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4377 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecy.4377 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ecology volume 105, issue 9 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4377 2024-09-05T05:08:02Z Abstract Animals representing a wide range of taxonomic groups are known to select specific food combinations to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet. The nutrient balancing hypothesis suggests that, when given the opportunity, animals select foods to achieve a particular target nutrient balance, and that balancing occurs between meals and between days. For wild ruminants who inhabit landscapes dominated by human land use, nutritionally imbalanced diets can result from ingesting agricultural crops rich in starch and sugar (nonstructural carbohydrates [NCs]), which can be provided to them by people as supplementary feeds. Here, we test the nutrient balancing hypothesis by assessing potential effects that the ingestion of such crops by Alces alces (moose) may have on forage intake. We predicted that moose compensate for an imbalanced intake of excess NC by selecting tree forage with macro‐nutritional content better suited for their rumen microbiome during wintertime. We applied DNA metabarcoding to identify plants in fecal and rumen content from the same moose during winter in Sweden. We found that the concentration of NC‐rich crops in feces predicted the presence of Picea abies (Norway spruce) in rumen samples. The finding is consistent with the prediction that moose use tree forage as a nutritionally complementary resource to balance their intake of NC‐rich foods, and that they ingested P. abies in particular (normally a forage rarely eaten by moose) because it was the most readily available tree. Our finding sheds new light on the foraging behavior of a model species in herbivore ecology, and on how habitat alterations by humans may change the behavior of wildlife. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alces alces Wiley Online Library Ecology 105 9 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Animals representing a wide range of taxonomic groups are known to select specific food combinations to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet. The nutrient balancing hypothesis suggests that, when given the opportunity, animals select foods to achieve a particular target nutrient balance, and that balancing occurs between meals and between days. For wild ruminants who inhabit landscapes dominated by human land use, nutritionally imbalanced diets can result from ingesting agricultural crops rich in starch and sugar (nonstructural carbohydrates [NCs]), which can be provided to them by people as supplementary feeds. Here, we test the nutrient balancing hypothesis by assessing potential effects that the ingestion of such crops by Alces alces (moose) may have on forage intake. We predicted that moose compensate for an imbalanced intake of excess NC by selecting tree forage with macro‐nutritional content better suited for their rumen microbiome during wintertime. We applied DNA metabarcoding to identify plants in fecal and rumen content from the same moose during winter in Sweden. We found that the concentration of NC‐rich crops in feces predicted the presence of Picea abies (Norway spruce) in rumen samples. The finding is consistent with the prediction that moose use tree forage as a nutritionally complementary resource to balance their intake of NC‐rich foods, and that they ingested P. abies in particular (normally a forage rarely eaten by moose) because it was the most readily available tree. Our finding sheds new light on the foraging behavior of a model species in herbivore ecology, and on how habitat alterations by humans may change the behavior of wildlife. |
author2 |
Scottish Environment Protection Agency |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Felton, Annika M. Spitzer, Robert Raubenheimer, David Hedwall, Per‐Ola Felton, Adam Nichols, Ruth V. O'Connell, Brendan L. Malmsten, Jonas Löfmarck, Erik Wam, Hilde K. |
spellingShingle |
Felton, Annika M. Spitzer, Robert Raubenheimer, David Hedwall, Per‐Ola Felton, Adam Nichols, Ruth V. O'Connell, Brendan L. Malmsten, Jonas Löfmarck, Erik Wam, Hilde K. Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
author_facet |
Felton, Annika M. Spitzer, Robert Raubenheimer, David Hedwall, Per‐Ola Felton, Adam Nichols, Ruth V. O'Connell, Brendan L. Malmsten, Jonas Löfmarck, Erik Wam, Hilde K. |
author_sort |
Felton, Annika M. |
title |
Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
title_short |
Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
title_full |
Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
title_fullStr |
Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
title_sort |
increased intake of tree forage by moose is associated with intake of crops rich in nonstructural carbohydrates |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4377 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecy.4377 |
genre |
Alces alces |
genre_facet |
Alces alces |
op_source |
Ecology volume 105, issue 9 ISSN 0012-9658 1939-9170 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4377 |
container_title |
Ecology |
container_volume |
105 |
container_issue |
9 |
_version_ |
1810488532998815744 |