Diets of sika deer invading Mt Yatsugatake and the Japanese South Alps in the alpine zone of central Japan

Seiki Takatsuki,Yasunori Kagamiuchi

doi:10.2981/wlb.00710

Abstract

Sika deer Cervus nippon populations have been increasing on the Japanese archipelago. Their range is expanding to include the alpine zone in central Japan, where they stay during summer before descending to the lower areas during winter. No studies on dietary habits of alpine deer in mainland Japan have been conducted. This study assessed the composition of sika deer diets and compared nutritional quality between the low montane, subalpine and alpine zones. We analyzed sika deer fecal samples from Mt Yatsugatake (YT) and the Japanese South Alps (SA). In the lower mountain in YT, dwarf bamboo comprised 40–55% of the plant compositions in fecal samples, whereas dicots were mostly found in SA samples. In subalpine zones in YT, grasses are an important food item, comprising about 50% of the samples. In SA, monocots (10–20%) and dicots (10–20%) were both prevalent. In the alpine zone of both YT and SA, grasses were present the fecal samples (50% and 10–20%, respectively). Crude protein contents were higher at higher zones (15–20%) than at lower zones (8–12%) in both study areas.

Highlights

Sika deer Cervus nippon populations have been increasing on the Japanese archipelago
Since the alpine zones in central Japan have not yet been inhabited by deer until the late 1990s, no study has been done on the food habits of alpine sika deer
Differences in sika deer diet by vegetational zones have been studied previously (Takatsuki 1983, 1990b, 2009a), the alpine zone in central Japan has been inhabited by sika deer only for the last two decades and had not been studied until now

Summary

Introduction

Sika deer Cervus nippon populations have been increasing on the Japanese archipelago. Their range is expanding to include the alpine zone in central Japan, where they stay during summer before descending to the lower areas during winter. Elevation, it is expected that the food habits of sika deer would differ by vegetational zone. Another study on Yakushima Island, southern Japan, found that sika deer at low elevation ate more dicot leaves, while those in the alpine zone mainly ate Pseudosasa owatarii bamboo (Takatsuki 1990b).

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