Adaptive Herbivore Ecology

From Resources to Populations in Variable Environments

AvR. Norman Owen-Smith

Inbunden, Engelska, 2002

Del i serien Cambridge Studies in Ecology

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Beskrivning

The adaptation of herbivore behaviour 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 behaviour to their consequences for population dynamics and community ecology, through the application of a metaphysiological modelling approach. The main focus is on large mammalian herbivores occupying seasonally variable environments such as those characterised by African savannahs, but applications to temperate zone ungulates are also included. Issues of habitat suitability, species coexistence, and population stability or instability are similarly investigated. The modelling 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. This text highlights the crucial importance of adaptive consumer responses to environmental variability and is aimed particularly at academic researchers and graduate students in the field of ecology.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2002-06-27
Mått:162 x 237 x 26 mm
Vikt:740 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Cambridge Studies in Ecology
Antal sidor:392
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9780521810616

Utforska kategorier

Zoologi inom Naturvetenskap och teknik
Djurböcker inom Djur och Natur

Mer om författaren

Norman Owen-Smith is Research Professor in African Ecology and heads the Centre for African Ecology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was awarded the Honorary Overseas Membership Award by the Ecological Society of America for his exceptional contribution to ecology. His previous book is Megaherbivores: The Influence of Very Large Body Size on Ecology (1988, 0521 36020X hardback and 0521 426375 paperback).

Recensioner i media

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

Innehållsförteckning

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.