01783naa a2200217 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000160006024501010007626000090017752011740018665000190136065000180137965000210139765000230141865000100144165000150145165300240146670000170149077300580150715211622023-06-22       1975    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aVOTH, E. H.  aA histologic technique for determinig feeding habits of small herbivores.h[electronic resource]  c1975  aAbstract: The mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) was used in a feeding experiment involving 20 spe- cies of vascular plants. A foliar epidermal digestibility characteristic was measured. A fecal recognition item was a flat epidermal fragment that measured at least 0.1 mm in at least one direction. The number of recognition items per gram of dry weight of each plant eaten in captivity was determined and divided into a standard number, which was the number ( 11.0 ) of fragments counted per gram ( dry weight ) of sword- fern ( Polystichum mtAnitum ) ingested. The resulting conversion factor was called an equivalence factor. The equivalence factors varied through a 15-fold range from 0.8 for red alder (Alnus oregona) to 12.2 for western spring beauty ( Montia sibirica ). The conversion factors increase the accuracy of relative vol- umetric estimates of food intake based on histologic analysis of fecal samples collected in the field. Con- version factors can be predicted by correlating equivalence factors with moisture content arld reading fac- tors for unknown plants from a line of regression when the percentage dry weight of the plant has been determined.  aAnimal feeding  aDigestibility  aFeeding behavior  aRuminant nutrition  aDieta  aNutrição  aTecnica histologica1 aBRACK, H. C.  tJournal Wildlife Managementgv. 37, p. 227-231, 1975.