1 research outputs found
Diet of the Italian hare ( Lepus corsicanus ) in a semi-natural landscape of southern Italy
The food habits of the endangered Italian hare
have not received adequate attention from researchers. In
this study, the diet composition of this species and its seasonal
variation were assessed by analysing faecal pellets in
a semi-natural landscape in the south of Italy. The results
showed that hares feed on 62 species of plants during the
year, with a conspicuous presence of herbaceous ones (e.g.,
Trifolium pratense , Brachypodium sylvaticum , Festuca arundinacea
) as these occurred at high frequencies in most of
the faecal samples. In spring, diet composition was characterised
by a high percentage of Graminaceae ( > 37%). In the
other seasons, hares also included fruits (e.g., Prunus spinosa
, Pyrus piraster , Malus sylvestris ), which, in autumn,
accounted for > 27%. There were significant differences
among seasons (p < 0.001) in terms of Margalef ’ s richness,
Shannon diversity, and Buzas and Gibson ’ s evenness. The
smallest values of richness and diversity were observed in
spring. Dietary overlap was low between spring and the
other seasons; conversely, there was substantial overlap
( > 70%) in the diets during the other seasons with a more
pronounced similarity between summer and autumn
(S ø rensen, C s = 0.80; Morisita-Horn, C MH = 0.73)