Meta-Analysis of Diet Composition and Potential Conflict of Wild Horses with Livestock and Wild Ungulates on Western Rangelands of North America

摘要: Abstract Wild horse (Equus ferus caballus) management in western North America is an escalating concern for ecological integrity on these landscapes. Identifying potential diet overlap among horses, livestock, and wildlife will inform decisions to optimize multiple interests. To understand dietary relationships, we conducted a quantitative synthesis of microhistological fecal studies wild horse, beef cattle ( Bos spp.), domestic sheep (Ovis aries), elk (Cervus elaphus), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) composition rangelands America. Our search yielded 60 from 14 states, 1 Canadian province, 2 Mexican states with 392 unique species-season samples. We summarized plant species into graminoid, forb, browse functional groups. For seasonal means graminoids (77−89%), forbs (4−15%), (3−10%) did not vary seasonally any group P ≤ 0.05). Univariate analyses the calculation effect sizes corroborated our finding that graminoid explained horses regardless season, spring, summer, fall winter. Although data indicate diets are primarily composed graminoids, several reported unusual, regionally specific shifts response winter snow limited accessibility, leading higher composition. Season, composition, ungulate assemblage may all influence competition between other large sharing American rangelands; however, low nonsignificant heterogeneity values at alpha 0.01 cattle:horse size comparisons suggest respond regional variation similarly—a result observed ungulate:horse comparisons. meta-analysis provides robust set evaluations wildlife, whereas no empirical have assessed together.