Food composition of alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris) in the post-hibernation terrestrial life stage.

摘要: Amphibians in the temperate climatic zone, including European newt species, annually migrate to water for reproduction. While prey consumption and the composition of their diet during the breeding season have been explored relatively well, the opposite is true for the spring period before reproduction. Therefore, the primary of aim our study was to determine whether newts consumed food in the posthibernation terrestrial life stage. We studied one population of alpine newts from the Czech Republic. The majority of the newts examined (65.30%) contained some food item. Repletion level was not connected with the newts’ body condition and also did not differ between males and females. In addition, the number of items consumed and the diversity of prey were not connected with an individual’s body condition or sex. Most numerous and frequent in the stomachs of both sexes were Collembola followed by Isopoda. Exploitation of other groups of prey was also almost the same, which resulted in a high niche overlap in the prey of males and females (Ojk= 0.888).