Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis
Scat analysis is a widely used technique to assess food habits of wolves Canis lupus , but complete dissection and thorough hand separation of the undigested remains for their individual identification is laborious and time consuming. In addition, this technique is susceptible to inter‐observer sour...
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crwiley:10.2981/wlb.2004.020 2024-06-09T07:45:17+00:00 Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis Ciucci, Paolo Tosoni, Elisabetta Boitani, Luigi 2004 http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Wildlife Biology volume 10, issue 2, page 149-153 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X journal-article 2004 crwiley https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 2024-05-16T14:26:46Z Scat analysis is a widely used technique to assess food habits of wolves Canis lupus , but complete dissection and thorough hand separation of the undigested remains for their individual identification is laborious and time consuming. In addition, this technique is susceptible to inter‐observer sources of error. Alternatively, the point‐frame method allows systematic sampling of undigested remains of faecal samples and greatly reduces the processing time. Based on a sample of 200 wolf scats, we compared hand separation and point‐frame methods using four widely used scat analysis quantification methods (frequency, volume and biomass models). Qualitative and quantitative estimates of the wolf diet showed close agreement between hand separation and point‐frame procedures, but point‐frame sampling allowed for an 85% reduction of the processing time. Given that the method is properly applied and its assumptions are met, we conclude that application of the point‐frame method is reliable and more time effective than hand separation of wolf scat. The point‐frame method could also provide a more rigorous sampling approach to reduce observer subjectivity as to what constitutes an accurate hand separation of undigested remains in scat. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Wiley Online Library Wildlife Biology 10 2 149 153 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Scat analysis is a widely used technique to assess food habits of wolves Canis lupus , but complete dissection and thorough hand separation of the undigested remains for their individual identification is laborious and time consuming. In addition, this technique is susceptible to inter‐observer sources of error. Alternatively, the point‐frame method allows systematic sampling of undigested remains of faecal samples and greatly reduces the processing time. Based on a sample of 200 wolf scats, we compared hand separation and point‐frame methods using four widely used scat analysis quantification methods (frequency, volume and biomass models). Qualitative and quantitative estimates of the wolf diet showed close agreement between hand separation and point‐frame procedures, but point‐frame sampling allowed for an 85% reduction of the processing time. Given that the method is properly applied and its assumptions are met, we conclude that application of the point‐frame method is reliable and more time effective than hand separation of wolf scat. The point‐frame method could also provide a more rigorous sampling approach to reduce observer subjectivity as to what constitutes an accurate hand separation of undigested remains in scat. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ciucci, Paolo Tosoni, Elisabetta Boitani, Luigi |
spellingShingle |
Ciucci, Paolo Tosoni, Elisabetta Boitani, Luigi Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
author_facet |
Ciucci, Paolo Tosoni, Elisabetta Boitani, Luigi |
author_sort |
Ciucci, Paolo |
title |
Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
title_short |
Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
title_full |
Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
title_fullStr |
Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf Canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
title_sort |
assessment of the point‐frame method to quantify wolf canis lupus diet by scat analysis |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Wildlife Biology volume 10, issue 2, page 149-153 ISSN 1903-220X 1903-220X |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2004.020 |
container_title |
Wildlife Biology |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
149 |
op_container_end_page |
153 |
_version_ |
1801374540378406912 |