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The diet of Danish red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in relation to a changing agricultural ecosystem. A historical perspective

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Abstract

Rodents and especially voles (Microtus agrestis or arvalis) make up the basic diet of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in Denmark. As the abundance of voles and mice may have decreased as a result of modern agricultural procedures, this study investigates potential changes in the diet of Danish red foxes over the past 4 decades in relation to a changing agricultural landscape. Our study compares the stomach contents of foxes collected in Jutland during the years 2012–2014 with a similar study from 1965 to 1970. The results show that small rodents occur in the stomachs of foxes with the same frequencies today (73 %) as 40–50 years ago (67 %), while the frequency of European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) has decreased from 7 to 3 % and the frequency of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) has increased from 3 to 18 %. The changes in the occurrence of brown hare and roe deer in the diet of foxes during the past 40 years most probably reflect changes in the populations of the two species. By comparing digitised orthophotos of six agricultural areas (3.5 × 3.5 km) of the past 1974/1975 and present landscapes, it was revealed that the total area of crop fields, small natural habitats, hedgerows and grasslands have remained almost unchanged. However, mean field size has increased by 48 %, and the mean size of small natural habitats has increased by 15 %; meaning that the length of field boundaries and the number of small natural habitats have decreased by 65 and 33 %, respectively. The distance between natural habitats in the cultivated areas has become larger during the past 40 years. Overall, the areas of natural biotopes have remained the same in Denmark during the past 40 years. Field boundaries on the other hand which are known to be important vole habitats have become fewer in the cultivated areas. Despite this, small rodents still occur in high frequencies in the diet of nowadays foxes. As voles are sensitive to fragmentation, narrow stipes of permanent grass should be maintained or even re-established in the cultivated areas to improve life conditions for small rodents and other wildlife.

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Acknowledgments

We thank The 15th Juni Foundation and the Danish Hunters’ Nature Foundation for supporting our project. We are grateful to the many hunters and employees at the Falck rescure stations for collecting foxes for us and special thanks go to Jesper Kjær Illemand and Klaus Berg for laboratory assistance. We would also like to thank a number of people for their assistance in the identification of food items: Jørgen Terp Laursen for identification of teeth of small rodents, Stefan Pihl for identification of feathers, Søren Tolsgaard for identification of insects and Mohammad Nafi Solaiman Al-Sabi for identifying parasites found in the stomach contents, and Else-Marie Nielsen and Karin Coles for English corrections and to Cino Pertoldi for statistical advises.

Ethical standards

The study complies with the current Danish laws. No animals were sacrificed for the purposes of this study. Therefore, a formal approval by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee was not necessary.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FO-Aarhus, Frederiksgade 78C, Aarhus, Denmark

    Sussie Pagh

  2. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde, 4000, Denmark

    Rune Skjold Tjørnløv

  3. Danish Hunters Association, Molsvej 34, 8410, Rønde, Denmark

    Carsten Riis Olesen

  4. Section for Diagnostics and Scientific Advice, National Veterinary Institute DTU, DK-1790, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Mariann Chriel

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  1. Sussie Pagh
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  2. Rune Skjold Tjørnløv
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Correspondence to Sussie Pagh.

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Communicated by: Matthew W. Hayward

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Pagh, S., Tjørnløv, R.S., Olesen, C.R. et al. The diet of Danish red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in relation to a changing agricultural ecosystem. A historical perspective. Mamm Res 60, 319–329 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-015-0244-y

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