Dietary characterization of terrestrial mammals.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the feeding behaviour of the species that make up any ecosystem is essential for designing further research. Mammals have been studied intensively, but the criteria used for classifying their diets are far from being standardized. We built a database summarizing the dietary preferences of terrestrial mammals using published data regarding their stomach contents. We performed multivariate analyses in order to set up a standardized classification scheme. Ideally, food consumption percentages should be used instead of qualitative classifications. However, when highly detailed information is not available we propose classifying animals based on their main feeding resources. They should be classified as generalists when none of the feeding resources constitute over 50% of the diet

SUBMITTER: Pineda-Munoz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4100522 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature