The role of plant chemical defences in the population ecology of mammal herbivores

植物通过在叶子中产生有毒化合物来抵御食草动物。许多研究表明，这些化合物影响哺乳动物食草动物的饮食选择，但我们对它们对这些物种种群的影响了解得很少。这个项目将调查真核生物中的叶毒素浓度如何影响以它们为食的有袋动物的繁殖成功、分布和丰度。这项研究所获得的知识将是重要的建模这些有袋动物物种的种群和预测他们对环境变化的反应。

Plants defend themselves against herbivores by producing toxic compounds in their leaves. Many studies show that such compounds influence diet selection by mammal herbivores, but we understand much less about their effects on populations of such species. This project will investigate how concentrations of leaf toxins in eucalypts affect reproductive success, distribution and abundance of the marsupials that feed on them. The knowledge gained by this study will be important in modelling populations of these marsupial species and predicting their responses to environmental change.