Methods to determine deer diet composition: A comparison of their efficiency and feasibility

Abstract

The present literary review is focused on examining the different methods that exist to determine deer diets composition. We considered research back ground of different deer species in several regions of the world. The aim was to compare the efficiency and feasibility of the methods. Among the aspects that were considered were the type of samples and the scope of every method to discriminate the composition of the diet up to minors’taxons as genus and species or for type of forage (pastures, herbaceous or shrubs).These studies cover Europa’s regions, Africa, Australia, North and South America. It was found that six methodologies exist: 1) Observation in field, 2) Fecal analysis, 3) Esophageal and rumen fistula techniques, 4) Stomach analysis, 5) n-alkanes in plant’s cuticles (waxes) and 6) Infrared reflectance spectroscopy. The most commonly used is the micro-histological analysis of dregs, which offers the advantage of easy access of samples, as well as unlimited quantity of the same ones, and the use of not specialized equipment.