Fecal chlorophyll describes the link between primary production and consumption in a terrestrial herbivore

Ecological Applications

Volumn 19, Issue 5, 2009, Pages 1323-1335

  Christianson, David ^a,b   Creel, Scott ^a  

^a MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITÉ DE SAVOIE   (France)

Author keywords

Cervus elaphus; Chlorophyll in herbivore feces; Climate and phenological effects on ruminants; Foraging during spring green up; NDVI; Nitrogen; Primary production; Season; Selection for photosynthetic biomass

Indexed keywords

CHLOROPHYLL; NITROGEN;

CHLOROPHYLL; CLIMATE EFFECT; DEER; FECES; FEEDING ECOLOGY; GRAZING; HERBIVORE; NDVI; PHENOLOGY; PHOTOSYNTHESIS; PRIMARY PRODUCTION; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS; TEMPORAL ANALYSIS;

ANIMAL; ARTICLE; BIOMASS; CHEMISTRY; DEER; FECES; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; FOOD CHAIN; PHYSIOLOGY; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SEASON;

ANIMALS; BIOMASS; CHLOROPHYLL; DEER; FECES; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; FOOD CHAIN; NITROGEN; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SEASONS;

ANIMALIA; BOVIDAE; CERVUS ELAPHUS; POACEAE;

EID: 68149141539     PISSN: 10510761     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/08-0987.1     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. Adams, L. G. 2003. Marrow fat deposition and skeletal growth in caribou calves. Journal of Wildlife Management 67:20-24.
2. Albon, S. D., and R. Langvatn. 1992. Plant phenology and the benefits of migration in a temperate ungulate. Oikos 65:502-513.
3. Arnon, D. I. 1949. Copper enzymes in isolated chloroplasts. Polyphenoloxidase in Beta vulgaris. Plant Physiology 24:1-15.
4. Augustine, D. J., and S. J. McNaughton. 1998. Ungulate effects on the functional species composition of plant communities: herbivore selectivity and plant tolerance. Journal of Wildlife Management 62:1165-1183.
5. Augustine, D. J., S. J. McNaughton, and D. A. Frank. 2003. Feedbacks between soil nutrients and large herbivores in a managed savanna ecosystem. Ecological Applications 13: 1325-1337.
6. Bathmann, U., and G. Liebezeit. 1986. Chlorophyll in copepod fecal pellets - changes in pellet numbers and pigment content during a declining Baltic spring bloom. Marine Ecology 7:59-73.
7. Blanchard, P., M. Festa-Bianchet, J. M. Gaillard, and J. T. Jorgenson. 2003. A test of long-term fecal nitrogen monitoring to evaluate nutritional status in bighorn sheep. Journal of Wildlife Management 67:477-484.
8. Boudon, A., J. Peyraud, and P. Faverdin. 2002. The release of cell contents of fresh rye-grass (Lolium perenne L.) during digestion in dairy cows: effect of the intracellular constituents, season and stage of maturity. Animal Feed Science and Technology 97:83-102.
9. Brazda, A. R. 1953. Elk migration patterns, and some of the factors affecting movements in the Gallatin River drainage, Montana. Journal of Wildlife Management 17:9-23.
10. Burnham, K. P., and D. R. Anderson. 2002. Model selection and multimodal inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Second edition. Springer, New York, New York, USA.
11. Carroll, M. L., C. M. DiMiceli, R. A. Sohlberg, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2005. A 250m MODIS normalized difference vegetation index. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA. 〈http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/ ndvi/〉
12. Christianson, D. A., and S. Creel. 2007. A review of environmental factors affecting elk winter diets. Journal of Wildlife Management 71:164-176.
13. Christianson, D. A., and S. Creel. 2008. Risk effects in elk: sex specific responses in grazing and browsing due to predation risk from wolves. Behavioral Ecology 19:1258-1266.
14. Constan, K. J. 1967. Food habits, range use, and relationships of bighorn sheep to mule deer and elk in winter, Gallatin Canyon, Montana. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
15. Cook, J. G. 2002. Nutrition and food. Pages 259-349 in D. E. Toweill and J. W. Thomas, editors. North American elk: ecology and management. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.
16. Creel, S., D. Christianson, S. Liley, and J. A. Winnie. 2007. Predation risk affects reproductive physiology and demography of elk. Science 315:960.
17. Creel, S., J. Winnie, B. Maxwell, K. Hamlin, and M. Creel. 2005. Elk alter habitat selection as an antipredator response to wolves. Ecology 86:3387-3397.
18. Deijs, W. B., and M. S. M. Bosman. 1955. Plant pigments in digestion trial studies. Recueil des Travaux chimiques des Pays-Bas et de la Belgique 74:1207-1216.
19. Fortin, D., J. M. Morales, and M. S. Boyce. 2005. Elk winter foraging at fine scale in Yellowstone National Park. Oecologia 145:335-343.
20. Frank, D. A., and S. J. McNaughton. 1992. The ecology of plants, large mammalian herbivores, and drought in Yellowstone National Park. Ecology 73:2043-2058.
21. Frank, D. A., and S. J. McNaughton. 1993. Evidence for the promotion of aboveground grassland production by native large herbivores in Yellowstone National Park. Oecologia 96: 157-161.
22. Frank, D. A., S. J. McNaughton, and B. F. Tracy. 1998. The ecology of the Earth's grazing ecosystems. BioScience 48: 513-521.
23. Fritz, H., and A. Loison. 2006. Large herbivores across biomes. Pages 19-49 in K. Danell, R. Bergstrom, P. Duncan, and J. Pastor, editors. Large herbivore ecology, ecosystem dynamics and conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
24. Fryxell, J. M., J. Greever, and A. R. E. Sinclair. 1988. Why are migratory ungulates so abundant? American Naturalist 131: 781-798.
25. Goodwin, T. A. 1965. Chemistry and biochemistry of plant pigments. Academic Press, New York, New York, USA.
26. Grant, S. A. 1971. The measurement of primary production and utilization of heather moors. Journal of the British Grassland Society 26:51-58.
27. Greenhalgh, J. F. D., and J. L. Corbett. 1960. The indirect estimation of the digestibility of pasture herbage. 1. Nitrogen and chromogen as faecal index substances. Journal of Agricultural Science 55:371-376.
28. Greer, K. R., and R. E. Howe. 1964. Winter weights of northern Yellowstone elk, 1961-62. Transactions of the Twenty-ninth North American Wildlife Conference 29:237-248.
29. Hardwick, K., and N. R. Baker. 1973. In-vivo measurement of chlorophyll content of leaves. New Phytologist 72:51-54.
30. Hodges, K. E., and A. R. E. Sinclair. 2005. Browse site selection by snowshoe hares: effects of food supply and predation risk. Canadian Journal of Zoology 83:280-292.
31. Holechek, J. L., M. Vavra, and D. Arthun. 1982. Relationships between performance, intake, diet nutritive quality and fecal nutritive quality of cattle on mountain range. Journal of Range Management 35:741-744.
32. Houston, D. B. 1982. The Northern Yellowstone elk. Macmillan Press, New York, New York, USA.
33. Hughes, J. J., D. Ward, and M. R. Perrin. 1994. Predation risk and competition affect habitat selection and activity of Namib desert gerbils. Ecology 75:1397-1405.
34. Johnson, D. E. 1951. Biology of the elk calf, Cervus canadensis nelsoni. Journal of Wildlife Management 15:396-410.
35. Lane, S. J., and M. Hassall. 1996. Estimation of apparent metabolizability in herbivorous wildfowl with plant pigments. Journal of Wildlife Management 60:910-916.
36. Lichtenthaler, H. K., and A. R. Wellburn. 1983. Determinations of total carotenoids and chlorophylls a and b of leaf extracts in different solvents. Biochemical Society Transactions 11:591-592.
37. Loe, L. E., C. Bonenfant, A. Mysterud, J. M. Gaillard, R. Langvatn, F. Klein, C. Calenge, T. Ergon, N. Pettorelli, and N. C. Stenseth. 2005. Climate predictability and breeding phenology in red deer: timing and synchrony of rutting and calving in Norway and France. Journal of Animal Ecology 74:579-588.
38. Lowry, J. B., and A. C. Schlink. 1995. Chlorophyll-derived faecal pigment as an indicator of feed selection in dry-season tropical pastures. Tropical Agriculture 72:303-307.
39. Macandza, V. A., N. Owen-Smith, and P. C. Cross. 2004. Forage selection by African buffalo in the late dry season in two landscapes. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 34:113-121.
40. Massey, B. N., F. W. Weckerly, C. E. Vaughn, and D. R. McCullough. 1994. Correlations between fecal nitrogen and diet composition in free-ranging black-tailed deer. Southwestern Naturalist 39:165-170.
41. McNaughton, S. J. 1976. Serengeti migratory wildebeest: facilitation of energy-flow by grazing. Science 191:92-94.
42. McNaughton, S. J. 1985. Ecology of a grazing ecosystem: the Serengeti. Ecological Monographs 55:259-294.
43. McNaughton, S. J., F. F. Banyikwa, and M. M. McNaughton. 1997. Promotion of the cycling of diet-enhancing nutrients by African grazers. Science 278:1798-1800.
44. McNaughton, S. J., and N. J. Georgiadis. 1986. Ecology of African grazing and browsing mammals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17:39-65.
45. Mehaffey, M. H., D. S. Fisher, and J. C. Burns. 2005. Photosynthesis and nutritive value in leaves of three warm-season grasses before and after defoliation. Agronomy Journal 97:755-759.
46. Misra, M. K., and B. N. Misra. 1981. Seasonal changes in leaf area index and chlorophyll in an Indian grassland. Journal of Ecology 69:797-805.
47. Mould, E. D., and C. T. Robbins. 1981. Nitrogen metabolism in elk. Journal of Wildlife Management 45:323-334.
48. Murray, M. G., and A. W. Illius. 2000. Vegetation modification and resource competition in grazing ungulates. Oikos 89:501-508.
49. Mysterud, A., and E. Ostbye. 2006. Effect of climate and density on individual and population growth of roe deer Capreolus capreolus at northern latitudes: the Lier valley, Norway. Wildlife Biology 12:321-329.
50. Mysterud, A., N. C. Stenseth, N. G. Yoccoz, R. Langvatn, and G. Steinheim. 2001. Nonlinear effects of large-scale climatic variability on wild and domestic herbivores. Nature 410: 1096-1099.
51. Mysterud, A., P. Tryjanowski, M. Panek, N. Pettorelli, and N. C. Stenseth. 2007. Inter-specific synchrony of two contrasting ungulates: wild boar (Sus scrofa) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Oecologia 151:232-239.
52. Olff, H., M. E. Ritchie, and H. H. T. Prins. 2002. Global environmental controls of diversity in large herbivores. Nature 415:901-904.
53. Parsons, T. R., and J. D. H. Strickland. 1963. Discussion of spectrophotometric determination of marine plant pigments with revised equations for ascertaining chlorophylls and carotenoids. Journal of Marine Research 21:155-163.
54. Patten, D. T. 1963. Vegetational pattern in relation to environments in the Madison Range, Montana. Ecological Monographs 33:375-406.
55. Peek, J. M., and A. L. Lovaas. 1968. Differential distribution of elk by sex and age on the Gallatin winter range, Montana. Journal of Wildlife Management 32:553-557.
56. Pettorelli, N., J. M. Gaillard, A. Mysterud, P. Duncan, N. C. Stenseth, D. Delorme, G. Van Laere, C. Toigo, and F. Klein. 2006. Using a proxy of plant productivity (NDVI) to find key periods for animal performance: the case of roe deer. Oikos 112:565-572.
57. Pettorelli, N., F. Pelletier, A. von Hardenberg, M. Festa-Bianchet, and S. D. Cote. 2007. Early onset of vegetation growth vs. rapid green-up: impacts on juvenile mountain ungulates. Ecology 88:381-390.
58. Pettorelli, N., J. O. Vik, A. Mysterud, J. M. Gaillard, C. J. Tucker, and N. C. Stenseth. 2005. Using the satellite-derived NDVI to assess ecological responses to environmental change. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20:503-510.
59. Reid, J. T., P. G. Woolfolk, C. R. Richards, R. W. Kaufmann, J. K. Loosli, K. L. Turk, J. I. Miller, and R. E. Blaser. 1950. A new indicator method for the determination of digestibility and consumption of forages by ruminants. Journal of Dairy Science 33:60-71.
60. Ryan, S. J., C. U. Knechtel, and W. M. Getz. 2007. Ecological cues, gestation length, and birth timing in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Behavioral Ecology 18:635-644.
61. Shoutis, L. 2007. Composition and modeling of riparian vegetation in the west fork of the Gallatin River watershed. Montana State University.
62. Shrader, A., N. Owen-Smith, and J. Ogutu. 2006. How a mega-grazer copes with the dry season: food and nutrient intake rates by white rhinoceros in the wild. Functional Ecology 20: 376-384.
63. Sinclair, A. R. E., S. A. R. Mduma, and P. Arcese. 2000. What determines phenology and synchrony of ungulate breeding in Serengeti? Ecology 81:2100-2111.
64. Singer, F. J., A. Harting, K. K. Symonds, and M. B. Coughenour. 1997. Density dependence, compensation, and environmental effects on elk calf mortality in Yellowstone National Park. Journal of Wildlife Management 61:12-25.
65. Smart, W. W. G., Jr., F. W. Sherwood, G. Matrone, and G. H. Wise. 1953. Digestibility of forages. Pigments involved in the chromogen(s) ratio method. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 1:318-321.
66. Sparks, T. H., K. Huber, and R. L. H. Dennis. 2006. Complex phenological responses to climate warming trends? Lessons from history. European Journal of Entomology 103:379-386.
67. Stenseth, N. C., G. Ottersen, J. W. Hurrell, A. Mysterud, M. Lima, K. S. Chan, N. G. Yoccoz, and B. Adlandsvik. 2003. Studying climate effects on ecology through the use of climate indices: the North Atlantic Oscillation, El Niño Southern Oscillation and beyond. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 270:2087-2096.
68. Stephens, P. A., S. W. Buskirk, G. D. Hayward, and C. M. Del Rio. 2005. Information theory and hypothesis testing: a call for pluralism. Journal of Applied Ecology 42:4-12.
69. Szymczak-Zyla, M., B. Wawrzyniak-Wydrowska, and G. Kowalewska. 2006. Products of chlorophyll a transformation by selected benthic organisms in the Odra Estuary (southern Baltic Sea). Hydrobiologia 554:155-164.
70. Taper, M. L., and P. J. P. Gogan. 2002. The Northern Yellowstone elk: density dependence and climatic conditions. Journal of Wildlife Management 66:106-122.
71. Toms, J. D., and M. L. Lesperance. 2003. Piecewise regression: a tool for identifying ecological thresholds. Ecology 84:2034-2041.
72. 2 variations and a satellite derived vegetation index. Nature 319:195-199.
73. Wallis De Vries, M. F., and C. Daleboudt. 1994. Foraging strategy of cattle in patchy grassland. Oecologia 100:98-106.
74. Wehausen, J. D. 1995. Fecal measures of diet quality in wild and domestic ruminants. Journal of Wildlife Management 59:816-823.
75. Wilmshurst, J. F., J. M. Fryxell, B. P. Farm, A. Sinclair, and C. P. Henschel. 1999. Spatial distribution of Serengeti wildebeest in relation to resources. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1223-1232.