Literaturdatenbank
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Rugiero, L., Capula, M., Burke, R. L., Battisti, C., & Luiselli, L. , Dietary data and microhabitat preferences of a hermann's tortoise population suggest complicated habitat management scenarios. Unpublished paper presented at Atelier international sur la gestion et la restauration des populations et habitats de la Tortue d’Hermann / International workshop on the management and restoration of Hermann’s tortoise populations and habitats.
Added by: Admin (06 Jan 2014 18:25:17 UTC) |
| Resource type: Conference Paper BibTeX citation key: Rugiero2013 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Ernährung - nutrition, Habitat - habitat, Schildkröten - turtles + tortoises, Südeuropa - Southern Europe, Testudinidae, Testudo hermanni Creators: Battisti, Burke, Capula, Luiselli, Rugiero Collection: Atelier international sur la gestion et la restauration des populations et habitats de la Tortue d’Hermann / International workshop on the management and restoration of Hermann’s tortoise populations and habitats |
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| Abstract |
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Testudo hermanni Testudinidae A field study of a Hermann's tortoise population in the “Pineta di Castel Fusano”, in the littoral area of Rome, allowed to collect detailed data on the food habits (through faecal pellet analysis), food resource availability (through botanical ‘‘rélevés’’, which are lists of plant species and abundance measurements in sampling plots both where the tortoises were encountered and in randomly placed nearby locations. Microhabitat selection of tortoises was studied too. These studies showed that the tortoises adopt a mixed foraging strategy, with some abundant plants being eaten, but also some very rare plants being actively searched for. More in detail, the tortoises ate primarily legume leaves and grasses in the spring, and switched to flowers and unripe fruit of Ruscus aculeatus as these became available in the autumn. In addition, our analyses showed that only a few plant species among the many present, and these on a very small spatial scale, are important determinants of tortoises’ presence and site selection. We also found that tortoises chose a paradoxical combination of high levels of bare soil and high total vegetation cover. This suggests that these tortoises select small patches of habitat in a matrix of less desirable habitat. Our findings have important implications for habitat management, in that increasing the number of habitat patches containing the few significant plants is likely to be desirable, whereas increasing the size of such patches is probably less relevant.
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