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The impact of livestock grazing on native wildlife remains a topic for considerable debate. In the Brazilian Pantanal extensive cattle ranching has been practised since the mid-18th century and cattle live alongside a diverse group of medium to large sized terrestrial mammalian herbivores. This study examined the use, similarity and selection of forage resources among cattle ( Bos indicus ), pampas deer ( Ozotoceros bezoarticus ) and capybara ( Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ) in a paddock in the central region of the Brazilian Pantanal. Plants consumed were identified through micro-histological analysis of faecal samples collected from three species over several seasons, and quadrats (0.5 m × 0.5 m) were allocated to patches within each of the main landscapes to measure availability of resources. Overall, cattle were classified as grazers, capybara as mixed feeders, pampas deer as browsers. 126 plants were identified in faecal samples of the three species. Similarity indices were highest between domestic cattle and the capybara and lowest between these two species and the deer. Diets were more similar between the species during the wet season (period of resource abundance) than during the dry season (period of resource scarcity). Overall animals selected different forage species H. amplexicaulis and L. hexandra were the only plants selected by all three herbivores. In this study, the presence of cattle does not appear to be as detrimental to wild herbivores as suggested by other examples in the literature. more...

Submitted by Guilherme Lemeszenski (guilherme@nead.unesp.br) on 2013-08-22T19:06:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 S1516-35982002000700007.pdf: 289285 bytes, checksum: 137700de61d812cdd978c367c49f0cf0 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-22T19:06:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 S1516-35982002000700007.pdf: 289285 bytes, checksum: 137700de61d812cdd978c367c49f0cf0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002-07-01 Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-30T20:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 S1516-35982002000700007.pdf: 289285 bytes, checksum: 137700de61d812cdd978c367c49f0cf0 (MD5) S1516-35982002000700007.pdf.txt: 64854 bytes, checksum: dfb3b93c8d543791e7e779c0def677d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002-07-01 Submitted by Vitor Silverio Rodrigues (vitorsrodrigues@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2014-05-20T13:48:33Z No. of bitstreams: 2 S1516-35982002000700007.pdf: 289285 bytes, checksum: 137700de61d812cdd978c367c49f0cf0 (MD5) S1516-35982002000700007.pdf.txt: 64854 bytes, checksum: dfb3b93c8d543791e7e779c0def677d4 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-20T13:48:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 S1516-35982002000700007.pdf: 289285 bytes, checksum: 137700de61d812cdd978c367c49f0cf0 (MD5) S1516-35982002000700007.pdf.txt: 64854 bytes, checksum: dfb3b93c8d543791e7e779c0def677d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2002-07-01 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) O estudo foi conduzido com o objetivo de identificar a composição botânica da dieta de bovinos criados extensivamente no Pantanal através da técnica microhistológica fecal, numa área característica da sub-região da Nhecolândia, Pantanal, no período de outubro/97 a setembro/99, e verificar a variação existente em função do mês, época, ano e estado fisiológico das vacas. Foram confeccionadas 726 lâminas, sendo cada lâmina uma unidade observacional. Com base na distribuição dos valores máximos de ocorrência da composição botânica de cada espécie/lâmina e nos quantis, as espécies foram classificadas em quatro grupos principais: 1- principal (máx >20%); 2- médio superior (12,3% 20.0%); 2- medium superior (12.3% more...