Comparison Of Red Deer’s Food Components Between Summer And Winter In The Gaogesitai National Nature Reserve, Inner Mongolia, China

Inner Mongolia Gaogesitai National Nature Reserve located in north of Alukeerqin village, Chifeng city in Inner Mongolia, characterized by forest-grassland ecotone. Plant community appearance has significant changes among seasons., In winter of 2014 and summer of 2013, we collected 208 fecal samples of red deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygus), including 127 in winter and 81 in summer, along with 55 edible plant species of red deer, including 15 in winter and 40 in summer. Food components were analyzed by microscopic analysis of feces, results showed that:food components of red deer in summer were Salix spp.54%, Corylus mandshurica 11.8%, Armeniaca sibirica 8.9%, Spiraea spp.4.6%, Poaceae 6.3%, Quercus mongolica 3.8%, Polygonum spp.2.9%, Artemisia spp.3.7% and Lespedeza spp.1.6%; food components of red deer in winter were Salix spp.54.4%, Corylus mandshurica 13%, Armeniaca sibirica 13.7%, Poa spp.4.5%, Spiraea spp.7%, Artemisia spp.3.2% and Rhododendron dauricum 1.2%. Major food components of red deer in Inner Mongolia Gaogesitai were woody plants, such as Salix spp., Corylus mandshurica and Armeniaca sibirica. Proportion of herbs in of red deer in summer was higher than winter.In summer, edible herbaceous accounted for 13% of food component while edible woody plants accounted for 84%. In winter, edible herbaceous was accounted for 7.7% of food component while woody plants accounted for 89%. Detrended correspondence analysis the food components of red deer, results showed that:1) major food component of red deer in summer were Salix spp., Corylus mandshurica, Armeniaca sibirica and Poaceae, Salix spp. and Armeniaca sibirica had low weight, Corylus mandshurica had both high weight on the axis of DCA1 and DCA2, Poaceae and Lespedeza spp. had high weight on the axis of DCA2, Polygonum spp. had high weight on the axis of DCA1; 2) major food component of red deer in winter were Salix spp., Corylus mandshurica, Armeniaca sibirica and Spiraea spp., but their weight were low. Though Artemisia spp. and Rhododendron dauricum had high weight on the axis of DCA2 and DCA 1 respectively, these two plant species were not decisive to the food component of red deer. These indicated that main food could not explain the most variance of total food components.Results of comparison of nutrients and non-nutrients in edible plants of red deer in both seasons showed that:1) crude protein in the edible plants of red deer in winter was significantly lower than in summer (p<0.01); 2) lignin in edible plants of red deer in summer was significantly lower than in winter (p<0.05);3) cellulose, hemicellulose and tannins in the edible plants of red deer in summer had no significant difference to winter (p>0.05). These indicated that the quality of the edible plants in summer were significantly higher than winter.We then divided edible plants of red deer into four groups including winter edible herbs, winter edible woody plants, summer edible herbs and summer edible woody plants. Comparison among nutrients and non-nutrients in the edible plants of red deer within those four groups showed that:1) crude protein among the four groups had significant differences(p <0.01), summer edible herbs> summer edible woody plants> winter edible herbs> winter edible woody plants; 2) lignin content among the four groups had significant differences (p <0.01), winter edible woody plants> winter edible herbs, summer edible woody plants> summer edible herbs; 3) cellulose and hemicellulose among the four groups had no significant differences; 4) tannins among the four groups had significant differences (p<0.01), winter edible woody plants> summer edible woody plants, winter edible woody plants> winter edible herbs. Aspection changes of plant community in forest-grassland ecotone caused significant difference of nutrients and non-nutrients in edible plant species between summer and winter.