Vedel Giovanni, de la Peña Eva, Moreno-Rojas Jose Manuel, Carranza Juan
Wildlife Research Unit (UiRCP), University of Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain.
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC, UCLM, JCCM), Ronda de Toledo 12, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jul 24;13(14):2397. doi: 10.3390/ani13142397.
Isotopic analysis of carbon and nitrogen in faeces is a reliable methodology for studying ecology in wildlife. Here, we tested this technique to detect variations in carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios (δC and δN) in two different intrasexual competition scenarios of male Iberian red deer () using faeces of individuals collected during hunting actions in South-eastern Spain. The carbon isotopic ratio (δC) was not found to be significant, likely due to similar diet composition in all individuals. However, the nitrogen isotopic ratio (δN) was found to be lower in populations where sexual competition between males during the rut was higher compared to low-competition populations. Therefore, this study suggests a different use of proteins by an individual male red deer depending on the sexually competitive context in which he lives. Although further research is needed, these results show the potential of isotopic analysis as a tool for studying individual and populational variations in the level of intrasexual competition, with implications in evolutionary ecology and population management.
粪便中碳和氮的同位素分析是研究野生动物生态学的一种可靠方法。在此，我们运用该技术，通过在西班牙东南部狩猎活动中收集的伊比利亚雄性马鹿粪便，检测了在两种不同的雄性内竞争场景下碳和氮同位素比率（δC和δN）的变化。未发现碳同位素比率（δC）存在显著差异，这可能是由于所有个体的饮食组成相似。然而，与低竞争种群相比，在发情期雄性间性竞争较高的种群中，氮同位素比率（δN）较低。因此，本研究表明，伊比利亚雄性马鹿个体对蛋白质的利用方式会因其所处的性竞争环境而异。尽管还需要进一步研究，但这些结果显示了同位素分析作为一种工具在研究雄性内竞争水平的个体和种群差异方面的潜力，这对进化生态学和种群管理具有重要意义。
