Table 1.
Schedule of the controlled diet offered to a stabled specimen of Pyrenean chamois to compare the effectiveness of cuticle microhistological analysis (CMA) and PCR amplification combined with capillary electrophoresis (PCR-CE) in assessing diet composition of herbivores through faecal samples.
Table 2.
DNA fragment lengths reference database for the plant species included in the controlled diet test.
Fig 1.
Microscopical images showing the main epidermal anatomical features of the plant species used in this study.
(A) Graminoid species: (a) Arrhenatherum elatius, (b) Carex caryophyllea, (c) Festuca spp., (d) Juncus trifidus, (e) Nardus stricta; (B) Dicotyledonous species: (f) Calluna vulgaris, (g) Helianthemum nummularium, (h) Hypochaeris radicata, (i) Medicago sativa, (j) Trifolium alpinum, (k) Vaccinium uliginosum. Images were obtained under 400 x magnification.
Fig 2.
Electropherograms peaks of the three controlled diets offered to the stabled Pyrenean chamois, obtained by capillary electrophoresis of the fluorescence labelled PCR products corresponding to trnL(UAA) (blue) and ITS2 (green) multiplex amplification.
For a better interpretation, the two fluorescence channels are shown separately. Plant species initials are as in Table 1.
Table 3.
Percentages of epidermal plant fragments quantified in faecal samples (EPF) collected from a stabled specimen of Pyrenean chamois and determined by cuticle microhistological analysis.
Table 4.
Ratios of epidermal plant fragments (EPF) quantified by cuticle microhistological analysis (CMA) in faecal samples from a stabled specimen of Pyrenean chamois versus ingested plant weights (I) for each plant species in the corresponding diet.
Table 5.
Mean ± standard deviation, minimum and maximum number of plant species detected in a pool of Pyrenean chamois faeces exposed to outdoor conditions using cuticle microhistological analysis (CMA) and PCR amplification combined with capillary electrophoresis (PCR-CE).