Domestic Cattle in a National Park Restricting the Sika Deer Due to Diet Overlap

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Precisely estimating the extent of the conflict between livestock and wild animals is crucial for making a proper management policy. Sika deer in the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park restrictedly distributes along the Sino-Russia border and fail to dispersal further into inland China, which hampers the ecosystem restoration flagged with tiger and leopard. Domestic cattle raised in the park are hypothesized as the main factors restricting the dispersal of sika deer, while the extent of the cattle-deer conflict is largely unknown. By utilizing high-throughput sequencing technology, this study quantified the extent of foraging conflict between cattle and deer in the park. We found the cattle shifted from a grazer-typical diet to a browser-typical diet, which resulted in a big diet overlap with sika deer. Indeed, the diet of cattle was more diverse than that of sika deer. Therefore, we argue that the big diet overlaps and superior competitive abilities of cattle may be the main driver restricting the dispersal of sika deer into the inland. ABSTRACT: Managers need to know the extent of the conflict between livestock and wild animals. Although many studies have reported the conflict between livestock and wild animals, few have checked the extent of the conflict. Cattle raising in the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park is considered one of the main driving forces behind the restricted distribution of sika deer. To understand whether foraging competition is contributing to avoidance patterns between sika deer and cattle, we investigated their feeding habits using DNA barcoding and high-throughput sequencing. Our study shows that although cattle are grazers in the traditional division of herbivores, their diet shifted to a predominance of dicotyledonous woody plants, and this diet shift resulted in a high degree of dietary overlap between sika deer and cattle. Moreover, compared to sika deer, cattle diets are more diverse at the species level with a wider ecological niche. Our results confirm that overlapping dietary niches and the superior competitive abilities of cattle contribute to the restricted distribution of the sika deer, which has critical implications for the conservation of their predators. Our study suggests that cattle grazing should be prohibited in the Park and effective measures should be taken for the benefit of sika deer.