Bn. Massey et al., CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FECAL NITROGEN AND DIET COMPOSITION IN FREE-RANGING BLACK-TAILED DEER, The Southwestern naturalist, 39(2), 1994, pp. 165-170
Correlations between fecal nitrogen (N) and diet composition of black-
tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) were examined to gauge h
ow well fecal N could predict diet quality. Correlation coefficients w
ere generally weak and inconsistent between study years. Diet composit
ion variables were significant predictors of fecal N but the coefficie
nts of determination were small (0.16 in summer, 0.31 in winter). Feca
l N appears to be useful only for confirming broad (i.e., winter to su
mmer) seasonal trends in diet quality for free-ranging cervids.