Aquatic vegetation

mast Plant material I vegetation

Figure 2-1. A diagram showing the main trophic (i.e. feeding) relationships between the various terrestrial mammals recorded as present on Prince Edward Island in French period records - the only predator not shown is the weasel which, though undoubtedly present, does not enter the records.

The arrows indicate the trophic relationships, with the broad arrows indicating specialist predator-prey

relationships where the predator is likely to have concentrated on one type of prey. Those marked by an asterisque are based on information from the contemporary records for He Saint-Jean, while those

marked by a ’D’ are from Nicolas Denys’ (1672) account of the fauna of Acadia in general. Otherwise the relationships shown are based on information from various general sources.

The above diagram is a simplification — it shows only the main predator—prey relationships. In reality it is likely that every predator would have fed at some time or other on all of the herbivores (with the possible exception of the caribou), and many are also likely to have fed on occasion on plant materials, especially on fruits, nuts and berries. Also, all the birds have been omitted, both predators and prey, as has the top predator, the indigenous human population, the Mi’kmaq (in the early years resident only in the summersr), who are likely to have hunted all but the smallest animals — for their pelts and/or for food for themselves, and after the arrival of the Europeans, for barter — though the fur trade appears never to have been of any importance on the island. There is also likely to have been a

greater interaction than is shown in the figure, between aquatic and terrestrial food-chains, due to the terrestrial predators feeding along the shore and/or on shore and aquatic birds.

1 See La Ronde (1721).

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