Abstract

MAIA, Maria João; REGO, Francisco  and  MACHADO, Francisco Sousa. Determining Optimal Sampling Schemes to Study Red Deer Diets by Fecal Analysis. Silva Lus. [online]. 2003, vol.11, n.1, pp.91-99. ISSN 0870-6352.

Studies on red deer feeding ecology have been conducted in Portugal for several years and in various locations using microhistological techniques on feces. These analyses are extremely time consuming requiring the optimization of the multistage sampling scheme used. Estimates of variance components based on samples from red deer pellets in Vila Viçosa (southern Portugal) indicate that variability among individual pellets of the same pellet group is minimal. It is concluded that using 100 plant fragments observed per pellet, a minimum number of 4 pellet groups provides a reasonable compromise between precision and cost.

Keywords : red deer; microhistological analysis; sampling; diet.

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