Illius, A.W., and Gordon, I.J. (1999) Scaling up from functional response to numerical response in vertebrate herbivores. In: Olff, H., Brown, V.K., and Drent, R.H., (eds.) Herbivores: between plants and predators. Blackwell Science, Malden, MA, USA, pp. 397-425.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

Considerable progress has been made in the last decade towards understanding the relationships between vertebrate herbivores and their food supply. Mechanistic approaches to analysing the constraints on food intake, and the consequences for population dynamics, are replacing the classical theoretical descriptions of predator-prey dynamics. The challenge of the former approach is to discover what our mechanistic understanding can reveal about process and pattern in plant-herbivore relationships. This chapter describes the modelling of the processes of food intake and diet selection, from the level of the individual bite, up to daily nutrient intake, metabolism, energy balance, reproduction and mortality, thus integrating the mechanisms underlying population dynamics. Two examples, of a temperate and a savanna grazing system, are used to show how far mechanistic modelling can be used to explain the relationship between vegetation and herbivore abundance and the physiological basis of overcompensatory population dynamics.

Item ID:	42659
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-0-632-05155-7
Related URLs:	Organisation
Additional Information:	Proceedings of the 38th Symposium of the British Ecological Society in Cooperation with the Netherlands Ecological Society, The Netherlands, 1997.
Date Deposited:	10 Feb 2016 07:43
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0608 Zoology > 060806 Animal Physiological Ecology @ 100%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970107 Expanding Knowledge in the Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences @ 50%
Downloads:	Total: 1
	More Statistics