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Why this is new

The diet of the Eurasian badger ( Meles meles ) in the Republic of Ireland Gráinne Cleary, Nicola Marples, Leigh Corner & James O’Keefe. Why this is new. First Republic of Ireland sample Results will help with BCG vaccine program Large sample size based on stomachs

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Why this is new

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  1. The diet of the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) in the Republic of IrelandGráinne Cleary, Nicola Marples, Leigh Corner & James O’Keefe

  2. Why this is new • First Republic of Ireland sample • Results will help with BCG vaccine program • Large sample size based on stomachs • Badgers in Ireland have narrow niche breadths

  3. Dietary Niche BreadthBS = (B-1) / (n-1) Specialist 0 1 Generalist

  4. Section 1The diet during each season is examined followed by the dietary niche breadth Summer Spring Autumn Winter

  5. Section 2 Feeding trails on captive badgers to estimate - passage rate - assimilation efficiency Results help to understand foraging strategy which may be related to dietary niche breadth Section 3 Summary of results

  6. Section 1 What do badgers eat?

  7. Spring

  8. Dietary niche breadth = 0.23 Specialist 0 1 Generalist

  9. Summer

  10. Dietary niche breadth = 0.40 Specialist 0 1 Generalist

  11. Autumn

  12. Dietary niche breadth = 0.26 Specialist 0 1 Generalist

  13. Winter

  14. Dietary niche breadth = 0.44 Specialist 0 1 Generalist

  15. To sum up… Seasonally, the diet is dominated by a couple of food items and therefore the badgers have a narrow niche breadth Spring Tipulid Larvae BS = 0.23 Summer Frogs BS = 0.40 Bees & Wasps Autumn Noctuid Larvae BS = 0.26 Winter Noctuid Larvae BS = 0.44 Frogs

  16. Section 2 Feeding trails

  17. Why does the badger have such a narrow dietary niche breadth?

  18. Results showed that… Food items passed rapidly through the gastrointestinal tract • After 7 hours only one badger’s stomach still had traces of food • After 16 hours the colon only had traces of selected food items

  19. Combined with results from dietary analysis… Stomach and faecal samples suggest that during periods of prey abundance badgers gorge. Therefore food passes rapidly through the gut resulting in low assimilation efficiency and food wastage.

  20. Other mustelids also have low assimilation efficiency • Mink (Mustela vision) – Errington (1967) • North American Badger (Taxidea taxus) – Harlow (1981) • Weasel (Mustela nivalis) – Moors (1977) • Wolverine (Gulo gulo) – Farrell and Wood (1968) • Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris) – Iversen (1972)

  21. Why does the badger have such a narrow dietary niche breadth? Species with low absorption efficiency may eat fewer food items = narrow niche breadth Species with high absorption efficiency eat more prey types = broader niche breadth

  22. Section 3 To Sum Up, We tentatively suggest that…

  23. Due to low assimilation efficiency badgers have a narrow dietary niche breadth composed of high-quality foods

  24. Low ingested biomass of earthworms compared to UK This could be due to insect larvae having a higher engery content

  25. Huge intake of vegetation may be involved in slowing down passage time through the gut? Could this result in higher assimilation efficiency?

  26. Acknowledgements • Mr. Bill Coleman • Dept of Agriculture & Food • Dr. Ursula Fogarty • Staff at IEC • Staff at Abbotstown farm • Ms. Alison Boyce • Mr. Peter Stafford • Ms. Lynsey Stuart Lynsey Stuart

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