Spatial and temporal variation in the



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RESUITS
Faecal analysis: composition
At EH, faeces were dominated in volumetric terms by seeds and other plant matter, in October and May (Table 1). A number of invertebrates were recorded hut in small quantities, and oniy Corixidae (in two May samples) and Chironomidae (in one October sample) made up 10% of the volume of any sample. Seasonal

differences in composition were significant, with more Ranunculus seeds, unidentified seeds and Corixidae in May, and more Ruppia seeds, Chenopodiaceae seeds (mainly Salicornia spp.) and Chironomidae in October (Table 1). Ruppia seeds constituted > 90% of the volume of 12 (63%) of the October samples and two (7%) of the May samples. Ranunculus seeds constituted

>90% of six (21%) of the May samples.

At VLP, Ruppia seeds were dominant in August faeces, in which they constituted > 90% of the volume of 16 (84%) of the samples. A wide variety of inverte­ brates were recorded in August, but only in small quantitities (Table 1), In contrast, invertebrates repre­ sented the major proportion of the volume of faecal samples from July broods (Table 1), with Chirono­ midae, Ephydridae or Coleoptera constituting > 50% of the volume of four of the five samples and > 90% of three of them. Seasonal differences in composition were significant, with more Ruppia seeds and Foraminifera in August, and more Coleoptera in July broods (Table 1). Overall, more types of seeds and other plant matter were recorded at EH, and more categories of invertebrates at VLP (Table 1).

In the 22 faecal samples in which green plant

material was studied with a microscope, three had no epidermal remains, making identification impossible. In the other 19, the presence of charophytes was con­ firmed in 13 (four at EH in October, nine at EH in May, Table 1). In four samples at EH in May there was epidermis similar to Potamogeton, Zannichellia or Ranunculus, There were six samples at ER (one in October, five in May) with epidermis that may have been Chenopodiaceae. There was no evidence of the presence of Ruppia.



Invertebrates in faeces: extrapolating to volume at ingestion
There were major differences in the relative impor­ tance of invertebrate groups between wetlands and seasons (Fig. 1): Chironomidae were most important in October (at ER) and in July broods (at VLP). Corixidae were most important in May (at EH). Ephydridae were only important in July broods (at VLP), and Ostracoda and Foraminifera only in August (at VLP). Coleoptera were important in all four sets of samples, and unidentified insects in all except July broods (Fig. 1).

There was a highly significant difference between the four sets of samples in the proportion of invertebrates in faeces (Kruskal—Wallis test, H = 32.5, df = 3, P <






Table I. Contents of Marbled Teal faeces from El Hotbo (EH, Morocco) and Veto Ia Paima (VIP, Spain), showing the percentage occurrence of each food item (P0) and the percentage of samples in which each item represented at least 10% of sample volume (V10).
El Hotba Veto Ia Polma
May (n = 28) October (n = 19) July broods (n = 5) August (n = 19)


P0 V 10 P0 V 10 U P0 V 10 P0 V 10
Green plant material 100 46.43 100 26.32 197 100 20 100 15.79

Charophyta1 32.14 32.14 21.05 21.05 0 0 0 0

Seeds 96.43 71.43 100 94.74 80 20 100 100

Riippia 78.57 35.71 100 94.74 62** 80 20 100 100

Ranuncuhs 42.86 32.14 0 0 152* 0 0 0 0

Chenopodiaceoe 7.14 0 52.6 0 145** 20 0 0 0



Zannichellia 7.14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Potamogeton 3.57 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Charophyta oospores 67.86 17.86 73.68 21.05 251.5 0 0 15.79 0

Unidentified 53.57 10.71 10.53 0 148.5* 40 0 26.32 0

Invertebrates 100 7.14 100 5.26 100 100 84.21 0

Chironomidciel./P 3.57 0 42.11 5.26 163* 80 40 0 0

Ephydridae P 10.71 0 5.26 0 80 60 0 0

Other Diptera[/P 10.71 0 0 0 0 0 5.26 0

U
44




9.5


9.5

Coleoptero A 57.14 0 63.16 0 250

Corixidoe 85.71 7.14 10.53 0 64**



100

20

15.79

0

6*

100

0

21.05

0

10

Homoptera

3.57

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Hymenoptera

3.57

0

5.26

0




20

0

0

0




Unidentified Insecta

75

0

68.42

0

248.5

60

0

31 .58

0

34

Corixidae eggs

71.43

0

63.16

0

244

80

0

5.26

0

12

Acarina

0

0

5.26

0




0

0

0

0




Araneida

0

0

10.53

0




60

0

0

0

19

Isopoda

0

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Palaemonidae

0

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Daphniaephippia

32.14

0

42.11

0

239.5

0

0

0

0




Ostracoda

0

0

10.53

0




0

0

57.89

0

20

Gastropoda

0

0

5.26

0




0

0

5.26

0




Bryozoan statoblasts

0

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Foraminifera

0

0

0

0




0

0

84.21

0

75

Unidentified invertebrates

0

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Unidentified eggs

10.71

0

0

0




0

0

5.26

0




Vertebrates

Bone fragment 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.26 0


L, larvae; P. pupae; A, adults. Seasonal differences were tested within each site using Mann—Whitney U tests. “P < 0.05, **p < 0.01 after

Bonferroni correction. ‘Subset of green plant material, P0 likely to be underestimated since only samples where V 1O for green plant



material were studied microscopically (see Methods(.


0.0001). Post-hoc Mann—Whitney U tests showed that, at EH, the difference in the total estimated volume of invertebrates at ingestion as a percentage of the actual volume of a faecal sample between October (range = 0.01—466.4, median = 4.0) and May (range =

1.2—62.3, median = 5.1) was not significant (P = 0,38).

In contrast, at VLP July broods (range = 37.3—748.1, median 100.1) had significantly more invertebrates than in August (range = 0.02—5.6, median = 0.59, P <

0.001). Furthermore, the proportion of invertebrates at

.EH in both October and May was higher than at VLP in August (P < 0.001) and lower than at VLP in July broods (P <0,001).

Gut content analysis
At VLP, the gut contents of birds collected in September and October were generally similar to the composition of faeces from August, and confirm the dominance of Ruppia seeds in the post-breeding diet (Table 2). The data for aggregrate percentage and aggregate volume may have been biased towards harder material such as seeds and gastropods owing to the method of collection and the low volume of the ingesta in some oesophagi and proventriculi (range

0.003—1.13 ml). However, in the bird with highest ingesta volume, Ruppia seeds represented 92.6%.









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