Disponibilidade de frutos e a dieta de Lycalopex vetulus (Carnivora - Canidae) em um cerrado de Mato Grosso, Brasil

DALPONTE, J.C.; LIMA, E.S. 1999. Disponibilidade de frutos e a dieta de Lycalopex vetulus (Carnivora - Canidae) em um cerrado de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Botânica 22(2):325-332.

Abstract. (Fruit availability and the diet of Lycalopex vetulus (Carnivora - Canidae) in a cerrado vegetation of Mato Grosso, Brazil). The fruiting phenology of 41 species known as potential food for mammals was monitored monthly during the period of 1985 and 1986, and compared with the frugivorous diet of the hoary fox (Lycalopex vetulus) in a cerrado area near Chapada dos Guimarães National Park, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The fruiting pattern was seasonal, with peaks of greater availability in the beginning of dry and wet seasons. Hancornia speciosa, Rauwolfia sp. and Solanum lycocarpum showed a long (nine to 12 months) fruiting pattern, while Guettarda viburnioides and Mouriri elliptica a short pattern (five to eight months). Seventy percent of the fruit species were eaten by the hoary fox. Despite the large number of fruit species consumed, a small percentage (26%) of these species reaches 10% of the occurrence frequency in the fox scats. The consumption of fruits by the hoary fox was opportunistic, generally consistent with the seasonal fruiting pattern in the study area. H. speciosa and S. lycocarpum were considered the most important fruit species in the diet of the hoary fox, since they give sources of alternative food year round, including periods of low availability of other fruits, like the peak os dry season. Changes in the intensity of fruit used by the hoary fox, like the replacement of some species by others, seem to show states of satiation and interest for new atractive fruits. Apparently, accessibility, strong smell and energetic content are features of the fruits that determine primary preferences for some species. The role of the hoary fox as an important agent to diesperse fruits in the cerrado may be suggested by the large number of fruit species eaten, and by the presence of undamaged seeds in the scats.