Variation in the cultivated plant consumption of brown hares during the vegetation period in an intensive agricultural land
Keywords:
brown hare, microhistological analysis, diet compositionAbstract
Brown hare is the most important small game species in Hungary, providing major income for many game management units. Their presence is important for conservation too, because they are prey for many protected species (Kovács, 2005). Their population’s size is decreasing instead, which can be caused by the decreasion of the size and quality of their habitats. In order to stop the decline, it’s crucial to learn about the ecology of the species, and use the knowledge in game management.
In our study we examined the monthly changes of the proportion of plant species in brown hares’ diet. We analized brown hare droppings from six study areas collected from may to august 2008. The six study areas were the following: a wheat -, a rape -, a sunflower -, and a corn field, a pasture, and 2 km long alley.
The droppings were analized by microhistological faeces analysis, Proportion of diet components was estimated in each pellet by the number of fragments for a particular forage class relative to the total number of fragments.
We used Chi2 fitting test to determine the occurence rate of a plant species in one month, and chi2 homogenity test to determine the changes of occurence rates along the four months.
In the case of corn and wheat the consumption differed significantly from even distribution in each month. According to the results of the chi2 homogenity test their consumption was not stable between May and August.
In the case of sunflower the consumption differed significantly from even distribution in each month. According to the results of the chi2 homogenity test their consumption differed significantly from even distribution, they ate the same small amount each month.
In the case of rape the consumption differed significantly from even distribution in each month except for may. According to the results of the chi2 homogenity test their consumption was not stable between May and August. They ate more in may, and less in July.
In the case of the alley and the pasture the consumption differed significantly from even distribution in each month except for august. According to the results of the chi2 homogenity test the consumption differed significantly from even distribution int he case of the pasture. They ate less dicotyledonous plants in may, and more in june as expected, while they ate less monocotyledonous plants and more crops in July.
According to the results of the chi2 homogenity test the consumption differed significantly from even distribution in the case of the alley.
In most cases hares consumed crops in different rates along the months.
The consumption rate of the crops varied between 10-40%, values beyond 50% occured only in three cases.
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