The importance of non epidermal tissues in microanalysis of herbivorous diet
Keywords:
microhistology, arid zones, xerophytic plants, quantificationAbstract
Generally in the microhistological analysis of the diet of herbivores, only epidermal tissues are considered. We worked with ten mixtures that contained a known weight of grasses, bushes, forbs and graminoids, to evaluate if considering identifiable non-epidermal tissues improves the results of diet analysis in arid environments. We made a census of 5 slides at 100 magnification for each mixture, recording all fragments: identifiable (epidermal and non-epidermal) and unidentifiable. We evaluated the results according to the similarity with the composition of the mixture by weight. We confirmed our hypothesis that if identifiable non-epidermal fragments are considered the results of microhistological analysis are improved, getting a more representative information of the diet.
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