Diet and feeding selectivity of common wombats
Murray C. Evans A B C , Cate Macgregor A and Peter J. Jarman AA Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B Present address: Environment ACT, PO Box 144, Lyneham, ACT 2602, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: murray.evans@act.gov.au
Wildlife Research 33(4) 321-330 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR05047
Submitted: 6 May 2005 Accepted: 21 April 2006 Published: 27 June 2006
Abstract
The seasonal diets and feeding selectivity of common wombats (Vombatus ursinus) in mountainous eucalypt forest, eucalypt woodland and pasture were determined using faecal analysis. Grass species contributed the largest proportion (95%) of epidermal fragment area in faecal pellets, with at least 20 species being eaten. The most abundant grasses in pellets in all seasons were the tough, wiry snow grasses (Poa sieberiana and P. labillardieri), with Microlaena stipoides comprising a substantial proportion of the diet in summer and autumn. Grass leaf was the most abundant plant part in pellets (81%), with grass stem and grass sheath comprising 11%. The seasonal proportion of grass seedhead in pellets varied from just traces during autumn and winter to a substantial component of the diet during summer (21% of epidermal fragments in pellets). Forbs comprised less than 1% of pellet material, and tree or shrub species were not detected in the diet. Feeding selectivity (and hence dietary niche breadth) varied seasonally; wombats become less selective in their feeding as plant diversity and abundance decreased. Positive selection was shown for monocots and negative selection for forbs. Grass species were eaten in broadly similar proportions to their abundances in the field, but with moderate to strong selection or rejection of a few species.
Acknowledgments
Funding for this project came from an Australian Research Council Grant to P. J. Jarman, C. N. Johnson and B. Green and a Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarship to M. C. Evans. We thank two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript.
Barboza, P. S. (1993). Digestive strategies of the wombats: feed intake, fibre digestion and digesta passage in two grazing marsupials with hindgut fermentation. Physiological Zoology 66, 983–999.
Dawson, T. J. , and Ellis, B. A. (1979). Comparison of the diets of yellow-footed rock wallabies and sympatric herbivores in western New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 6, 245–254.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Evans, M. C. , and Jarman, P. J. (1999). Diets and feeding selectivity of sympatric bridled nailtail wallabies and black-striped wallabies. Wildlife Research 26, 1–19.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McIlwee, A. P. , and Johnson, C. N. (1998). The contribution of fungus to the diets of three mycophagous marsuipials in Eucalyptus forests, revealed by stable isotope analysis. Functional Ecology 12, 223–231.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Vanderploeg, H. A. , and Scavia, D. (1979). Two electivity indices for feeding with special reference to zooplankton grazing. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 36, 362–365.
Westoby, M. , Rost, R. R. , and Weis, J. A. (1976). Problems with estimating herbivore diets by microscopically identifying plant fragments from stomachs. Journal of Mammalogy 57, 167–172.
|
