Wildlife Dietary Needs: Native Plants and Animals

Wildlife Dietary Needs: Native Plants and Animals

Michael Lachance

Virginia Cooperative Extension

(434) 263-4036

I.  How to Study Wildlife Nutrition

Wildlife Food Studies startup in 1885 with Federal Wildlife Food habits research

·  Field studies

·  Laboratory work

Wildlife in a changing world

Losers

·  Passenger pigeon

·  Carolina parakeet

·  Bison

·  Beaver

·  Elk

Winners

·  Fox

·  Raccoon

·  Coyotes

·  Robins

·  Bluebirds

Outcome based on food habits. Population increased for species that were able to adapt to a human dominated landscape.

Species Destructive to Crops

·  Farm Crops

o  Bobolink

o  Crow

o  Ducks

§  Mallard

§  Pintail

§  Wigeon

o  Canada Goose

o  Meadowlark

o  English sparrow

o  Ring-neck pheasant

o  Redwing

o  Deer

o  Raccoon

o  Woodchuck

·  Orchards

o  House finch

o  Purple finch

o  Blue jay

o  Robin

o  Sapsucker

o  Starling

o  Deer

o  Brown thrasher

o  Waxwing

o  Moles

o  Voles

o  Meadow mouse

·  Gardens

o  Deer

o  Crows

o  Voles

o  Sparrows

o  Rabbit

o  Gray squirrel

·  Forests

o  Sapsucker

o  White-footed mouse

o  Rabbit

o  Deer

Food and Wildlife

·  Exponential and Logistic Growth Rates

·  Carrying capacity

Carrying Capacity Examples for Birds

·  Dry western Plains 0.5 – 1 per acre

·  Cultivated eastern farmland 1 - 3 per acre

·  Deciduous eastern forests 1.5 – 10.5 per acre

Vegetation mapping and landscape assessment

·  Virginia Museum of natural History

·  Virginia Natural History Society, “Banisteria”

·  Virginia Academy of Science, Natural History and Diversity Section

·  Junior Virginia Academy of Science, Natural History and Diversity Section

Negative impact of energy production and urban structures

Impact of cultivation

·  Benefit for species that thrive on border

·  Beneficial for species adapted to crops and weed associates

Plants as wildlife foods

·  Fleshy nuts

·  Nuts

·  Seeds

·  Vegetation

Important issue is availability of plant parts in winter when there is snow cover, also importance of cover.

·  Hedge rows can provide both.

Food Selection by Wildlife

·  Preferred foods

·  Second choice foods

·  Starvation foods

Wildlife Nutrition

·  Emerging field

·  Syllabus for college course: http://users.tamuk.edu/david_hewitt/

·  Availability of protein a large concern, thus diets switch often to insects in the springtime

Knowledge of nutrition important to know how to enhance or restrict a species

·  Predator – Prey

·  Competition

·  Commensalism, etc

Field Studies

·  How, where, when food is taken

·  % depletion of food supply

·  Stomach contents don’t show environmental impact of animal presence and disturbance

Difficulty of field studies

·  Skill and experience of observers differ

·  Value of “bird in hand”

·  Statistical problems

·  Lack of voucher specimen

·  Stomach content data often needed to exonerate claims of damage

Laboratory studies look at:

·  Crops

·  Stomachs

·  Droppings

·  Caches

·  Cheek pouches

·  Den and nest materials

Curate the collection

·  Reference material useful when identifying fragments

·  Organs removed, wrapped in gauze with water proof label attached

·  Tools

o  Sieves

o  Forceps

o  Scalpel

o  Blower

·  Storage liquids

o  Formalin (10% formaldehyde)

o  70% ethyl alcohol

·  Bulky contents, soak in formalin and dry out

·  Seeds, dry and add insecticide

Record Keeping; format of data card

1.  Name of Species

2.  Specimen Number

3.  Date

4.  Where collected

5.  Where killed

6.  Hour of death

7.  Person making dissection and date

8.  Condition of stomach

9.  Condition of gullet

10.  Percentage of:

a.  Animal matter

b.  Vegetable matter

c.  Gravel, etc.

d.  Unknown material

11.  Contents description area

a.  Include number of individuals in stomach by species and

b.  Each percent contribution to the contents

12.  Person making the examination and date

13.  Location of voucher materials

Insure an adequate sample

·  Sample size or number

·  Regional differences

·  Seasonal differences

Data

·  Weight of animal

·  Contents

o  Estimated visually

o  Measured volumetrically

o  Counted out by kind, especially for predators

o  Presence/absence

·  Best to report by occurrence, numbers, and % of volume

II. 4H Wildlife Habitat Evaluation Program, Learning to Characterize

Habitats

A.  Wildlife Management Concepts

B.  Wildlife Management by Regions

C.  Wildlife Management by Species

D.  Wildlife Management Practices

E.  Activities

a.  Wildlife Foods

b.  Interpreting Wildlife Habitat by Aerial Photographs

c.  On-Site Habitat Management Recommendations

d.  Wildlife Management Plan

e.  Urban Landscape and backyard Habitat Plan

Wildlife Management Concepts

1.  Habitat Requirements

2.  Featured Species

3.  Species Richness

4.  Plant Succession and Effects on Wildlife

5.  Vertical Structure (Layering)

6.  Arrangement and Interspersion

7.  Edges and Contrast

8.  Area Sensitive Species

9.  Migration and Home Range

10.  Carrying capacity

11.  Pond Dynamics and Balance

12.  Wildlife Damage Management

13.  Food Webs

Habitat Requirements

·  Food

·  Water

·  Usable Space

·  Cover (Shelter)

·  Subject to seasonal change

Featured Species

·  Two goals

o  What is best for the “species of interest”

o  Support species richness

·  Select practices that address what is most lacking for that species

Species Richness

·  Manage landscape to accomplish

o  As many species as possible

o  Optimal populations within each species

·  Characteristics of areas with high species richness

o  Mixture of different successional stages

o  Balance of edges with unbroken blocks of vegetation in one successional stage

o  Unbroken areas of more than 10 to 40 acres

o  Edges with low contrast

o  Wide variety of vegetation layers within the area

Plant Succession and effects on wildlife

1.  Bare Ground

2.  Annual forbs and/or grasses

3.  Perennial forbs and grasses

4.  Shrubs

5.  Young woodland or trees (<70 yrs)

6.  Mature woodland or trees

Vertical Structure (Layering)

1.  Tree Canopy

2.  Shrub layer

3.  Herbaceous layer

Arrangement and Interspersion

·  Different successional areas close to each other

·  Corridors to allow for safe travel among them

Edges and Contrast

·  Abrupt or gradual

·  Stage of growth between areas noted by contrast

·  Edge effects can hinder some species

Area Sensitive Species

·  Some species require a great deal of land in one successioal stage

·  May be 100 acre or more than a 1000

Migration and Home Range

·  Migration is seasonal

·  Home range is area of constant use, e.g. 80 acres for northern bobwhite

Carrying capacity

·  Limit to number of animals an area can support

·  Long term increase in population can be accomplished only by increasing the habitat’s carrying capacity.

Pond Dynamics and Balance

·  Management to improve

o  Water quality

o  Dissolved oxygen

o  Alkalinity

o  Hardness

o  pH

·  Enhance plankton

o  Improve fish populations

o  Attract wildlife

·  Balance between predator and prey species

Wildlife Damage Management

·  Health or safety hazard

·  Livestock and crop damage

·  Nuisance

·  Compensation?

Food Webs

·  Trophic levels

·  Relative populations

o  Broad at base

o  Narrow at the top

Activities: Learning to identify foods

Aquatic Plants: a plant that grows partly or wholly in water, whether rooted in the mud,

or floating without anchorage; plants that require constantly moist conditions without

standing water are included in this group; for the purpose of this contest, only examples

from the following genera will be considered.

Algae, various genera

American lotus, Nelumbo

Arrowhead/duck potato, Saggitaria

Big duckweed, Spirodela

Bladderworts, Utricularia

Bulrushes, Scirpus

Burreeds, Sparganium

Cattails, Typha

Coontail Cerratophylum

Cordgrass, Spartina

Duckweed, Lemna

Floating hearts, Nymphoides

Naiads, Najas

Pondweed, Potomageton

Rushes, Juncus

Sedges, Carex

Smartweed, Polygonum

Spikerush, Eleocharis

Waterlily, Nymphaea

Watermeals, Wolffia

Watermilfoil, Myriophyllum

Waterprimrose, Ludwigia

Waterweed, Elodea

Bark: tough outer covering of trees and shrubs

Birds: may be represented by feathers, bones, skulls, feet or any part that distinguishes the

Class

Buds: a small protuberance on a stem or branch, sometimes enclosed in protective

scales and containing an undeveloped shoot, leaf or flower; the bud may be represented

on the branch or stem, or removed from the branch or stem

Carrion: stinking, rotting flesh; to be considered in this group, the item must have a definite

odor of decomposition, be presented in a plastic bag or have the words “this stinks” on the display; a dry bone, a dry skin, or other body part does not represent carrion, but

will represent other food groups; maggots are a natural occurrence with decomposition

and may be present on the carrion, but they should not be considered in grouping

the specimen as carrion

Centipedes and Millipedes: elongated arthropods having many body segments; millipedes

have pairs of legs

Crayfish: small freshwater decapod crustacean that resembles a lobster; regionally, they

have many names including crawdads and crawdaddys

Earthworms: terrestrial worm that burrows into and helps aerate soil; often surfaces when

the ground is cool or wet; used as bait by those who fish

Eggs: only the eggs of vertebrate species (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish)

are considered in this category; invertebrate eggs (insect and spider) represent the

group of the adult invertebrate

Ferns: flowerless, seedless vascular plants with roots, stems and fronds; reproduce by

spores; may be represented by the whole plant or a part of the plant that defines it

Fish: a poikilothermic (cold-blooded) waterdwelling vertebrate with gills

Forbs: broad-leaved herbaceous plant, not including grasses, sedges, rushes or ferns;

forbs may be represented by a single leaf or by the entire plant including the flower

Frogs and Salamanders: may be represented by the organism in any life stage except the

egg

Fruit and Berries: display must include the soft, fleshy, pulp-covered seed

Fungi: kingdom of plantlike spore-forming organisms that grow in irregular masses without

roots, stems, leaves and that lack chlorophyll

Grains: will include only wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice and corn; may be represented by

the seed, seed head or entire plant including the seedhead

Grass: leaves of grasses are usually tall and thin with a mid-rib and parallel veins; grasses

may be represented by the entire plant including the seedhead, or by a single leaf or group of leaves

Hard mast: includes nuts from walnut, hickory, oak, beech, pecan, almond, and common

hazel; may be shown with or without the husk

Insects: small invertebrate (without a backbone) animals, except for spiders, centipedes and

millipedes, which are segmented

Leaves and Twigs: this food group is represented by leaves and/or twigs of woody species

only; not forbs, grasses or other herbaceous plants

Lichens: a fungus that grows symbiotically with algae, resulting in a composite organism that characteristically forms a crust-like or branching growth on rocks or tree trunks; lichens may be shown with a rock or branch or without

Lizards: lizards are reptiles of the order Squamata, which they share with the snakes

(Ophidians); they are usually four-legged, with external ear openings and movable

eyelids

Mammals: any mammal regardless of size fits in this category; may be represented by a

photograph, live animal, museum mount or any part of the mammal representative of the

class, such as teeth or hair

Mussels: freshwater mollusks that may be represented by the whole organism or just a

single shell or group of shells

Nectar from flowers: represented by the flower with no other plant parts present

Scorpions: arachnid having a long segmented tail ending in a venomous stinger

Seeds: a fertilized ovule containing an embryo, which forms a new plant upon germination

Snails: applies to most members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled

shells

Snakes: cold-blooded legless reptiles, which share the order Squamata with lizards

Spiders: arachnid that usually has silk-spinning organs at the back end of the body; they

spin silk to make cocoons for eggs or traps for prey

Tubers: represented by either the nutlet of the yellow nutsedge (chufa) or by potato

Turtle and Tortoise: animals with a special bony shell developed from their ribs; “turtle”

is often used for aquatic species, but aquatic freshwater turtles are also often called

“terrapins;” in North America, “turtle” is usually used to refer to all members of the order,

including tortoises, which are predominantly land based

F.  Wildlife Management Practices to Enhance

G.  Interpretation of Aerial Images

Activities: Evaluating Habitats from Aerial Photographs

Bibliography of Presentation

1.  Janine M. Benyus. 1989. Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern USA. Fireside Press. 336 pp. $15. A noted outdoors expert and an acclaimed illustrator create a stunning picture of the wildlife in the eastern half of the United States. Complete with observation tips. 75 illustrations. Especially good for characteristic plants of different habitats.

2.  Eastman,

3.  John Eastman (Author)

4.  › John Visit Amazon's John Eastman Page

5.  Find all the books, read about the author, and more.

6.  See search results for this author

7.  Are you an author? Learn about Author Central

8.  and Amelia Hansen. Stackpole Books.

a.  The Book of Forest and Thicket: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America. 1993. $17

b.  The Book of Swamp and Bog: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of the Eastern Freshwater Wetlands. 1995. $17

c.  The Book of Field and Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America. 2003. $19

References take an ecological approach, providing complete descriptions of plants found in diverse communities as well as wildlife communities associated with them. Books help readers identify plants as well as what other organisms, plant and animal, might be found in the same area, and explains why. Plant lore also provided.

3  David W. Ehrenfeld. The Arrogance of Humanism. Oxford University Press. 1981. 304 pages. $20.

Reviews: "An outstanding source of ideas for those interested in systematically thinking through the issues surrounding the increasing rate of the distintegration of social and physical organizations and the destruction of nature in the world today." –Choice "Ehrenfeld provides a fascinating and extraordinarily topical tour de force on the present discrepancy between the worldwide humanistic faith in reason, science, and technology and the living reality of the human condition." --American Scientist