Niche separation in two species of hare. Metabolic costs of plant phenolics

Summary The distributions of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and European hare (L. europaeus) overlap in central Sweden, but they occupy separate food niches in winter. In Scandinavia, the European hare is mainly a grazer while mountain hare is a predominant browser. Browse contain high amounts of secondary metabolites, such as phenols, compared to grass. This raises the question if the two hare species differ in their metabolic tolerance of plant phenols and that these differences influence their food choice.Phenolic excretion in urine increased significantly with phenolic intake in both species. Excretion of glucuronic acid conjugates, one of the major pathways of elimination of phenols in both hare species, is positively correlated to phenolic intake and excretion. However, the extent of excretion of phenolics by this route was different in the two species of hare. European hares excreted substantially more glucuronic acid per amount of phenolics than mountain hare. The phenols were metabolized to a larger extent in the mountain hare, indicating a higher detoxification capacity. From these results it is likely that European hare have a higher cost for the detoxification of plant phenols compared to mountain hare. This cost and negative effect on sodium balance when feeding on browse may prevent exploitation of forest habitats by European hares, whereas mountain hare are better able to do so.