Collaborative Research: New Models of the Functional Response in Vertebrate Herbivores: The Role of Plant Availability and Animal Morpohology

合作研究：脊椎动物食草动物功能反应的新模型：植物可用性和动物形态学的作用

• 批准号: 9007882
• 负责人: Donald Spalinger
• 金额: $ 7.38万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-06-15 至 1993-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9007882&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; New; Models; Functional

The outcome of many high order processes in ecology depends on the way in which the abundance and distribution of plants affects the eating rate of plants by animals. However, mechanistic models describing the operation of the functional response of herbivores have failed to emerge apart from those developed for predators. The P.I. offer new models describing the effects of spatial and morphological characteristics of plants on the intake rate of plant tissue by vertebrate herbivores. Their models depart from the Type II response represented in Holling's disc equation by assuming that searching for food and processing it are complementary rather than exclusive activities. Their hypothesize that the parameters in our models should follow allometric relationships for linear and surface dimensions of animals. The P.I.'s conduct a randomized complete block experiment with a factorial layout to test the predictions of our models and to describe the allometric scaling that governs their behavior. Factors in the experiment will include animal body size, as well as plant bite size and biomass. The investigator will observe responses to these treatments in vertebrate herbivores ranging in mass over five orders of magnitude. The results will serve as a foundation for future development of a comprehensive model of feeding behavior in these animals.

生态学中许多高阶过程的结果取决于植物的丰度和分布如何影响动物对植物的摄食率。然而，除了为捕食者开发的模型外，描述食草动物功能反应操作的机械模型一直未能出现。P.I.提供了描述植物的空间和形态特征对脊椎动物草食动物对植物组织摄取率的影响的新模型。他们的模型偏离了霍林圆盘方程中所代表的第二类反应，假设寻找食物和加工食物是互补的，而不是排他性的活动。他们的假设是，我们模型中的参数应该遵循动物线性和表面尺寸的异速生长关系。P.I.S用析因设计进行了完全随机区组实验，以检验我们模型的预测，并描述控制他们行为的异速生长尺度。实验中的因素将包括动物身体的大小，以及植物咬的大小和生物量。研究人员将在质量超过五个数量级的脊椎动物草食动物身上观察对这些治疗的反应。这一结果将为未来开发一种全面的动物摄食行为模式奠定基础。