Adaptive Herbivore Ecology

ISBN-13: 9780521810616 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 392 str.

Norman Owen-Smith; R. Norman Owen-Smith; H. J. B. Birks

Opis

The adaptation of herbivore behavior to seasonal and locational variations in vegetation quantity and quality is inadequately modelled by conventional methods. Norman Owen-Smith innovatively links the principles of adaptive behavior to their consequences for population dynamics and community ecology, through the application of a metaphysiological modeling approach. The main focus is on large mammalian herbivores occupying seasonally variable environments such as those characterized by African savannas, but applications to temperate zone ungulates are also included. Issues of habitat suitability, species coexistence, and population stability or instability are similarly investigated.

Recenzje

Review of the hardback: ' … an enjoyable and informative addition to the ecological literature. We are convinced others will find the book equally stimulating and useful.' Science

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Acronym and symbol conventions; 1. Conceptual origins: variability in time and space; 2. Consumer-resource models: theory and formulation; 3. Resource abundance: intake response and time frames; 4. Resource distribution: patch scales and depletion; 5. Resource quality: nutritional gain and diet choice; 6. Resource constraints: physiological capacities and costs; 7. Resource allocation: growth, storage and reproduction; 8. Resource production: regeneration and attrition; 9. Resource competition: exploitation and density dependence; 10. Resource-dependent mortality: nutrition, predation and demography; 11. Habitat suitability: resource components and stocking densities; 12. Resource partitioning: competition and coexistence; 13. Population dynamics: resource basis for instability; 14. An adaptive resource ecology: foundation and prospects; References; Index.