Determinação da dieta de cinco espécies de herbívoros na reserva do Maputo pelo método de análise fecal

Abstract

The aim of this study was to supply more information about the diet and feeding behaviour of five herbivore species in study at the Maputo Game Reserve, in order to develop strategies and programmes of management of the animals in the area. The Maputo Game Reserve with 80 000 hectares is located at the right side of Maputo river and was proclaimed in 1932 with the main objective of protecting the rich biodiversity of the region. Between October of 1993 and November of 1994 it was studied the diet of: Elephant, Reedbuck, Red Duiker, Common Duiker and Suni, which still occur in large proportional numbers at the Reserve. Trough the faecal sample analyses it was possible to: indirectly determine the diet of each of the five herbivores; verify the diet change between March and November of 1994; Record the species diversity of feeding plants; Verify the spearman correlation and diet similarity between pair of herbivores; and determine the diet overlap between pairs of different species. At the beginning about one hundred plant species were identified from which a reference collection was made. It was seen that Hyparrhenia sp. , Sesuvium portulacastrum, Strychnos innocua, Ficus sycomorus, Bridelia micrantha and Phragmites communis contribute with the highest diet frequencies for the five herbivores. The Xa analyses showed that each herbivore has a different diet for each month. The diet similarity was higher between the Elephant and Reedbuck, between Red Duiker and Common Duiker, and between Red Duiker and Suni. The diet width was always higher for the Elephant, the less specific in plant choice and the only monogas trie; The diet width was smaller for the Reedbuck in November which was keen to eat large amounthes of certain grass species after first rainfall. Diet overlap was higher between Red Duiker, Common Duiker and Suni, which have the same feeding habit and diet preferences. The Elephant, Red Duiker, Common Duiker and Suni ate the largest percentages of wood species, being classified as browsers, although the Elephant is versatile in changing from browse to graze. The Reedbuck was the animal that ate the largest percentage of grass species being classified as grazer.