Nutrient Balancing by a Wild Browsing Herbivore: Nutritional Geometry of Snowshoe Hares (<i>Lepus americanus</i>).

ABSTRACT: Browsing herbivores must consider food digestibility while balancing the intake of multiple nutrients (i.e., protein and energy) simultaneously. Nutritional Geometry (NG) is a framework that is used to assess how nutrients interact to impact animal feeding behavior and body condition. Here, we use NG combined with detailed digestibility trials to evaluate how snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), a common boreal browser that experiences 10-year population cycles, balance energy and protein. We conducted 65 no-choice and 15 multi-choice feeding trials on 17 hares in Kluane, Yukon (Canada) during the winters of 2022 and 2023. We tested four diets ranging from the low protein (5.6%) and high fiber content of hare winter food (twigs) to the high protein (16.7%) and low fiber content of rab

SUBMITTER: Balluffi-Fry J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12535209 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature