Dados do Trabalho

TÍTULO

HIGH ANIMAL PREY AND FUNGI IN DIET OF WHITE-LIPPED PECCARIES BASED ON STABLE ISOTOPES

Resumo

<p>The white-lipped peccary (<em>Tayassu pecari</em>) is a dominant terrestrial herbivore in non-hunted Neotropical rainforests. Fruits and seeds have been considered the major staple food, yet we do not have information on the full diet of white-lipped peccaries in their natural habitats. Here we study the diet of six populations of white-lipped peccaries in the Brazilian Atlantic forest (3 in evergreen and 3 in semideciduous forests)&nbsp;based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes from peccaries&nbsp;hair. Animal prey (invertebrates) and fungi were the main items in peccaries’ diet. We found a clear difference in the diet of white-lipped peccaries between evergreen and semideciduous forests, where populations in evergreen forests consumed a large proportion of fungi (20-50%), while ingested more animal prey (75%). Some individuals of the populations in semidecidous forests, which are fragmented and isolated, also include C4 plants, suggesting crop raiding. Our results indicate, for the first time, that white-lipped peccaries feed heavily on invertebrates and fungi, challenging the notion that they are strictly&nbsp;herbivores.</p>

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Palavras-chave

<p>queixadas, Mata Atlantica, fungos, dispersao</p>

Financiamento

<p>FAPESP, CNPq</p>

Área

Ecologia