Food habits of an insular Neotropical population of white-tailed deer

Abstract

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) biology has been little studied in the tropics. In Costa Rica, a few studies have been done on this species. This report deals with the food habits of an insular population. The study was conducted on San Lucas Island, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, from August 1984 to July 1985. Fresh fecal samples were collected twice per month. Diet composition was determined, identifying plant species with a microhistological technique. A vegetation census was carried out for each of the dry and wet seasons to determine forage availability; these were compared with dietary results. In general, major forage plants were browse and forbs. Forbs were wet season forage while browse was dry season forage. Grasses and sedges, although commonly present in the diet, usually comprised a very small portion; they were most abundant during the wet season. Wet and dry season diets were not significantly correlated. Correlations between diet composition and forage availability values were generally very low. *Present address: Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, U.S.A. Influence of sex and weather on white-tailed deer activity patterns Paul Beier and Dale R. McCullough University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (U.S.A.)