Is summer food intake a limiting factor for boreal browsers? Diet, temperature, and reproduction as drivers of consumption in female moose

Food intake may limit the ability of browsing mammals to gain body mass during the growing season when the leaves and stems of woody plants are most abundant. Moose are highly productive browsers with high demands for energy and nutrients, particularly during lactation. Using an indigestible marker,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-10, Vol.14 (10), p.e0223617
Main Authors: Shively, Rachel D, Crouse, John A, Thompson, Dan P, Barboza, Perry S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alces alces
Analysis
Animal lactation
Animal reproduction
Animals
Artiodactyla - physiology
Biology and Life Sciences
Body mass
Browsing
Calves
Climate change
Diet
Digestibility
Dry matter
Earth Sciences
Eating
Ecology
Energy
Environmental protection
Feeding Behavior
Female
Females
Fisheries
Food
Food intake
Forage
Foraging habitats
Growing season
Habitat changes
Habitats
Herbivores
Hot Temperature
Lactation
Leaves
Medicine and Health Sciences
Moose
Motor vehicle drivers
Nutrients
Nutritive Value
Physical Sciences
Precipitation
Quality
Reproduction
Seasons
Social Sciences
Statistics
Summer
Web browsers
Winter
Woody plants
Zoology
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Summary:Food intake may limit the ability of browsing mammals to gain body mass during the growing season when the leaves and stems of woody plants are most abundant. Moose are highly productive browsers with high demands for energy and nutrients, particularly during lactation. Using an indigestible marker, we estimated dry matter intake of free ranging adult female moose with and without calves over three growing seasons. During the same period, we analyzed forage quality. Intakes were highest in late spring (280 ± 19 g·kg-0.75·d-1) when forage quality peaked; however, intakes declined by 39% throughout the summer as temperatures increased and as acid detergent fiber content of browse increased. Digestibility of dry matter declined over summer from 71% to 57% among browse. Intakes were similar for moose with and without calves. Heat loads may impair the ability of moose to consume sufficient energy and nutrients. Warming and habitat change can adversely affect browser populations when poor forage qualities and low dry matter intakes combine to suppress digestible intakes of energy and nutrients.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0223617