Abstract
Herbivores of different body size vary in food selection because of their different metabolic requirements and abilities to harvest and digest food. Compared with smaller grazers, larger ones require higher food quantity but can tolerate poorer quality. This divergence may also explain habitat partitioning in the distribution of closely related species. By estimating daily energy expenditure (based on observed activity budgets) and energy intake (using the indigestible marker method in food and faeces), we compared the field energy budgets of three wintering herbivorous goose species differing in body size feeding on the same Carex meadows. Throughout the winter, the larger Bean Geese Anser fabalis serrirostris and Greater White-fronted Geese Anser albifrons maintained positive energy budgets grazing lower quality Carex, in contrast to the smaller Lesser White-fronted Geese Anser erythropus which failed to do so and could only maintain positive energy budgets by grazing high-quality Alopecurus, Cynodon and Eleocharis. However, all three species failed to maintain positive energy balance and lost mass in mid-winter. These results have important implications for explaining the divergent distribution patterns of these species on their wintering grounds in China.
Zusammenfassung
Groß sein bringt Vorteile: Einflüsse der Körpergröße auf den Energiehaushalt dreier überwinternder Gänsearten auf Carex-Weideflächen in der Jangtsekiang-Ebene in China
Aufgrund ihrer verschiedenen metabolischen Bedürfnisse und Fähigkeiten, Nahrung aufzunehmen und zu verdauen, differieren Herbivoren unterschiedlicher Körpergröße in der Nahrungswahl. Im Vergleich mit kleineren Weidegängern benötigen größere Tiere eine höhere Futtermenge, kommen dafür aber mir Nahrung niedrigerer Qualität zurecht. Dieser Unterschied ist eine mögliche Erklärung für eine Habitataufteilung bei der Verbreitung nah verwandter Arten. Anhand von Schätzwerten für den täglichen Energieverbrauch (auf der Grundlage von beobachteten Aktivitätsbudgets) und die Energieaufnahme (bestimmt mittels unverdaulicher Marker in Nahrung und Kot) verglichen wir die Freiland-Energiebudgets dreier herbivorer Gänsearten unterschiedlicher Körpergröße im Winterquartier, die auf denselben Carex-Wiesen weideten. Den ganzen Winter über konnten die größeren Saatgänse Anser fabalis serrirostris und Blessgänse Anser albifrons durch die Aufnahme minderwertigerer Futterpflanzen (Carex) einen positiven Energiehaushalt aufrechterhalten, was den kleineren Zwerggänsen Anser erythropus dagegen nicht gelang, welche einen positiven Energiehaushalt nur durch die Aufnahme hochwertigerer Nahrung (Alopecurus, Cynodon und Eleocharis) erreichen konnten. Allerdings gelang es keiner der drei Arten, eine positive Energiebilanz aufrechtzuerhalten und alle verloren zur Mitte des Winters hin an Masse. Diese Ergebnisse sind von großer Bedeutung für das Verständnis der Verteilungsmuster dieser Arten in ihren chinesischen Überwinterungsgebieten.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Shengjin Lake National Nature Reserve for permission to work in the nature reserve and assistance with field work, Meng Fanjuan, Liu Jing, Yang Xiuli, Fu Shunyu, Meng Haoxian and Dou Songtao for field observations and sample analyses, as well as the anonymous referees for the constructive and stimulating comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. The study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2012CB956104), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31071941), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. WK2060190007), University of Science and Technology of China Graduate School Educational Innovation Base, plus a Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists (2011T1Z04), and State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, PRC.
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Wang, X., Zhang, Y., Zhao, M. et al. The benefits of being big: effects of body size on energy budgets of three wintering goose species grazing Carex beds in the Yangtze River floodplain, China. J Ornithol 154, 1095–1103 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-0979-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-0979-7