Diet composition and selection of Père David's deer in Hubei Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve, China

Hubei Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve is an ideal place to restore the wild population of Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus). Understanding foraging ecology and diet composition is essential for assessing population development or establishing long-term effective conservation measures for endangered species. However, little is known about the diet composition of Père David's deer and its diet selection mechanism. In this study, we used stable isotope technology to investigate the diet composition of Père David's deer according to various tissues (i.e., fur, muscle, liver, heart, and feces) and seasons, and evaluated the correlation between the nutrient composition of plants and diet composition. Bayesian isotope analysis showed that the autumn and winter diet estimated by fur and fecal samples indicated a diet dominated by C3 grasses (42.7 to 57.2%, mean), while the summer diet estimated by muscle and liver samples was dominated by C₃ forbs (30.9 to 41.6%, mean). The Pearson correlation test indicated that the contribution of winter diet composition reflected by fur and fecal samples was associated with correlations with crude protein (r = 0.666, P < 0.01) and soluble sugars (r = 0.695, P < 0.01). The results indicated that crude protein and soluble sugars were important factors influencing the winter diet selection of Père David's deer. In the context of the current reintroduction facing many challenges, such as habitat fragmentation, wetland degradation, and human disturbance, comprehensively evaluating the diet selection mechanism of Père David's deer under different resource specificities and temporal changes should be considered in the future.