USE OF TROPHIC RESOURCES AND FOREST HABITATS BY

Habitat usc and diet of genus Mutes (M. marks and M. foina) werc studied in alpine forest habitat (Adamello-Brenta Park, Central Italian Alps) from July 1991 to September 1992. Marten scats were looked for along 3 transects representative of 5 forest habitats in order to analyse seasonal variations in habitat selection. The food habits were studied analysing 225 scats collected along the transects. Both percentage frequency of occurrence and relative percentagc frequency (Fr%) of the different food items were calculated. Arthropods (Fr% = 50.0%), mainly insects (Coleoptera and Hymenoptera), were the staple in the diet of martens and were mostly consumed in spring and in summer. The other main food categories were vegetables (Fr% = 25.9%), mainly Rosaceae fruits, with a peak in autumdwinter, and mammals (Fr% = 10.5), especially small rodents, regularly preyed on throughout the ycar with a peak in winter. Carrion (marmots and ungulates) and partly insects (Orthoplcra and Hymenoptera) werc a fairly important food resource in the winter and at the beginning of the spring. All year round Marfees selected coppice forest and mixcd high forest, where presumably a major availability of the main food resources used by both species occurred.