Abstract

SEPULVEDA PALMA, Lorena; PELLIZA, Alicia  and  MANACORDA, Marcela. The importance of non epidermal tissues in microanalysis of herbivorous diet. Ecol. austral [online]. 2004, vol.14, n.1, pp.31-38. ISSN 1667-782X.

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.

Keywords : Microhistology; Arid zones; Xerophytic plants; Quantification.

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