Microhistology of Plant Fragments in Herbivore Diets
THE MICROSCOPE
2016, Volume 64:2, pp. 61–68
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59082/AHBP6326
AUTHORS
John J. Henderson and John A. Vucetich
ABSTRACT
Microhistologically based studies of diet focus on the identification of fragments of food items that appear in samples of scat. When the subject is an herbivore, the fragments of interest are plant, grass, and woody stem. Diagnostic fragments include cellular features (cell shapes, stomata, tracheae, etc.), inclusions (silica, calcium carbonate, calcium oxalate, starch, etc.), and epidermal surface growths (trichomes, scales, glands, etc.). Rough botanical groupings can generally be determined with one or two characteristics, whereas many botanical fragments can be identified to species using multiple characteristics. Despite some challenges such as differential digestibility and identification of single small fragments, microhistological studies of diets have provided some fascinating insight into the foraging behavior of domesticated and wild herbivores.