New Zealand Journal of Zoology
abstracts
The diets of introduced rusa
deer (Cervus timorensis russa)
in a native sclerophyll forest and a native rainforest of New Caledonia
M. de Garine-Wichatitsky1,2
Y. Soubeyran1
D. Maillard3
P. Duncan4
1Institut
Agronomique néo Calédonien
Programme
Elevage et Faune Sauvage
BP 73, 98890 Païta
Nouvelle-Calédonie
m.degarine@iac.nc
2CIRAD-EMVT
Programme
Econap
TA/30 Campus International de Baillarguet
34 398 Montpellier cedex 5, France
3Office
National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage
CNERA Faune de
Montagne
95 rue Pierre Flourens
BP 74267, 34098
Montpellier cedex 5, France
4CNRS
Centre d’Etudes
Biologiques de Chizé
CNRS UPR 1934
79360 Beauvoir sur Niort, France
Abstract New
Caledonia has an exceptionally diverse and unique flora, and there is
growing concern about the impacts of introduced wild rusa deer on
native forests. The diets of free-ranging rusa deer from two native
forest sites were studied using rumen content analysis. Samples (n
= 61) from a sclerophyll forest site consisted principally of
graminoids (64.6 ± 4.4% dry weight), mainly native grass,
but the proportion of woody species increased during the dry season. In
the rumen samples from the rainforest site (n
= 56), woody species were the predominant plants (61.9 ±
3.7% dry weight), and the composition of the diet was more constant
across seasons. Most of the food items found could not be identified to
species level, but it is estimated that native plants represent 40–60%
of rusa deer diet. Although more work is needed to assess diet
preferences and impacts of rusa deer, we suggest that they represent a
potentially important threat to some native plant species in New
Caledonia.
Keywords biodiversity
conservation; Cervidae; Cervus
timorensis russa; diet;
herbivore impacts; introduced ungulates; native plants
Z04027; Received 23 July 2004;
accepted 19 January 2005; Online publication date 13 May 2005
New Zealand Journal of
Zoology, 2005, Vol. 32: 117–126
0301–4223/05/3202–0117 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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