Adaptive Herbivore Ecology From Resources to Populations in Variable Environments,9781868144273

Adaptive Herbivore Ecology From Resources to Populations in Variable Environments

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Edition: Student
ISBN13: 9781868144273
ISBN10: 1868144275
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2005-01-01
Publisher(s): Wits University Press
List Price: $44.74

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Summary

The adaptation of herbivore behavior to seasonal and geo- graphic variations in vegetation quantity and quality is inadequately modeled 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 modeling approach accommodates various sources of environmental variability, in space and time, in a simple conceptual way and has the potential to be applied to other consumer-resource systems.

Author Biography

Norman Owen-Smith is a research professor in African ecology and heads the Centre for African Ecology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Table of Contents

Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Acronym and symbol conventions xiii
Conceptual origins: variability in time and space
1(12)
Modelling philosophy
2(2)
Herbivores and vegetation
4(6)
Modelling technology
10(1)
Structure of the book
10(3)
Consumer--resource models: theory and formulation
13(25)
Basic theory
13(2)
Descriptive population models
15(5)
Demographically structured population models
20(1)
Interactive consumer--resource models
21(8)
Metaphysiological population models
29(7)
Overview
36(2)
Resource abundance: intake response and time frames
38(23)
Basic theory
39(3)
Within-patch feeding
42(5)
Foraging spells
47(5)
Daily food intake
52(1)
Half-saturation level for intake
53(2)
Allometry of food intake
55(1)
Influences on the form of the intake response
56(1)
Overview
57(4)
Resource distribution: patch scales and depletion
61(24)
Feeding sites
62(1)
Patch acceptance
63(2)
Patch departure
65(10)
Foraging areas
75(2)
Habitat types
77(2)
Waterpoint restrictions
79(1)
Selectivity in foraging
80(3)
Overview
83(2)
Resource quality: nutritional gain and diet choice
85(25)
Diet breadth model
86(6)
Palatability classes
92(5)
Evaluating the diet breadth model
97(8)
Form of the nutritional gain response
105(3)
Overview
108(2)
Resource constraints: physiological capacities and costs
110(26)
Linear programming models
111(5)
Digestive capacity
116(9)
Metabolic satiation
125(2)
Thermal tolerance
127(4)
Constraints versus cost--benefit isoclines
131(2)
Truncation of the intake response
133(1)
Overview
134(2)
Resource allocation: growth, storage and reproduction
136(26)
Relative growth potential
137(5)
Storage
142(9)
Growth versus storage
151(2)
Reproduction
153(5)
Senescence
158(1)
Flux- versus state-dependent mortality
159(1)
Overview
160(2)
Resource production: regeneration and attrition
162(22)
General production function
163(2)
Grass production model
165(12)
Browse production model
177(3)
Resource-related dynamics for plants
180(2)
Overview
182(2)
Resource competition: exploitation and density dependence
184(21)
Stocking density models
185(3)
Growth potential
188(3)
Alternative models of resource production
191(11)
Competitive distributions
202(1)
Resource versus density dependence
203(1)
Overview
204(1)
Resource--dependent mortality: nutrition, predation and demography
205(27)
Mortality function
206(3)
Observed mortality patterns
209(15)
Predation
224(3)
State-dependent mortality
227(1)
Demographic structure
228(2)
Overview
230(2)
Habitat suitability: resource components and stocking densities
232(32)
Determinants of browser abundance
233(11)
Range condition and grazer stocking densities
244(9)
Generic resource types
253(4)
Overview
257(7)
Resource partitioning: competition and coexistence
264(37)
Lotka--Volterra model
265(1)
Competitive habitat partitioning
266(3)
Exploitation competition model
269(10)
Size difference for coexistence
279(2)
Ecomorphological distinctions
281(7)
Tradeoffs between facilitation and competition
288(7)
Overview
295(6)
Population dynamics: resource basis for instability
301(34)
Interactive herbivore--vegetation dynamics
302(15)
Soay sheep example
317(12)
Other ungulate populations
329(1)
Alternative modelling approaches
330(2)
Overview
332(3)
An adaptive resource ecology: foundation and prospects
335(11)
Retrospective review
335(2)
Prospects
337(4)
Broader issues
341(4)
Overview
345(1)
References 346(25)
Index 371

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