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Effects of density, season, and food intake on sika deer nutrition on Yakushima Island, Japan

  • Original Article
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Ecological Research

Abstract

Sika deer (Cervus nippon) suffer severe winter food limitation in northern Japan; however, plant food resources are available during winter in southern Japan and, consequently, deer nutritional status may not decrease there. To test this hypothesis, we measured seasonal changes in Riney’s kidney fat index (RKFI) and stomach intake in 74 culled deer individuals from five areas with different deer densities on Yakushima Island, Japan. The average RKFI differed significantly among populations and ranged from 22.91 ± 11.91 to 76.23 ± 15.99. There was no significant correlation between RKFI and deer density. The total fresh weight of rumen contents also differed significantly among populations, ranging from 0.51 to 3.51 kg. Food intake and RKFI exhibited an L-shaped distribution in the vicinity of a town ranch. However, we found that food intake had a significantly positive effect in populations at the other four locations, suggesting that changes in nutritional status were related to the quantity of deer rumen contents. Neither deer density nor season were significantly correlated with RKFI values. The average RKFI values exceeded 20 in all five locations. These findings indicate that the deer were not in a poor nutritional condition even in high density areas of >70 head/km2, which supports the above hypothesis. Notably, food intake varied among individuals in the same area, but was independent of body weight and age, which suggests that food selectivity differs between deer individuals.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the hunting communities and staff of Yakushima Forestry Ecosystem Conservation Center and Yakushima Forestry Administration Station for allowing us to sample the stomach contents and kidneys from culled deer. The deer were culled with permission from Kagoshima Prefecture, which is responsible for wildlife management under the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Management Law. We also thank the Service Center of the Elementary Analysis of Organic Compounds, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University for sample analysis, and Chisato Terada, Toshihiro Saito, Satoshi Tagawa, and Kengo Fuse for their help with field work on Yakushima Island and their useful comments on our study. We also thank Firouzeh Javadi for English editing. This study was partly supported by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for the Global Center of Excellence Program ‘‘Asian Conservation Ecology’’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of System Life Sciences, West 1-C-915, Kyushu University, Moto-oka 744, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Arika Kuroiwa

  2. Nagano Nature Conservation Research Institute, Nagano, Hokugo 2054-120, Nagano, 381-0075, Japan

    Misako Kuroe

  3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, West 1-C-804, Kyushu University, Moto-oka 744, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Tetsukazu Yahara

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  1. Arika Kuroiwa
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Correspondence to Arika Kuroiwa.

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Kuroiwa, A., Kuroe, M. & Yahara, T. Effects of density, season, and food intake on sika deer nutrition on Yakushima Island, Japan. Ecol Res 32, 369–378 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1443-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-017-1443-6

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