Authors
Robyn Hudson, Luisa Rodríguez-Martínez, Hans Distel, Carlos Cordero, Vilmos Altbäcker, Margarita Martínez-Gómez
Publication date
2005/9
Journal
Acta Theriologica
Volume
50
Pages
377-389
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Description
Mexico has eight endemic lagomorph species, several of which are endangered. For conservation reasons it is necessary to know more about their diet. In a first step we applied the method of fecal pellet analysis to the cottontailSylvilagus floridanus (Allen, 1890). Since it is common in Mexico, information on its diet should provide a useful baseline with which to compare the diets of other Mexican lagomorphs. At Ixtacuixtla, we recorded vegetation and analyzed fecal pellet content once in August (wet season) and once in March (dry season) at 4 sampling sites representing different habitat types. The comparison of vegetation and diet records suggestedS. floridanus to occupy the same dietary niche in the different habitats. Measures of niche breadth showedS. floridanus to be neither a generalist nor a specialist. Nevertheless, it appeared to be quite selective in consuming particular herb and grass species …
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