Nutrient-use efficiency: a litterfall index, a model, and a test along a nutrient-availability gradient in North Carolina peatlands
Article Abstract:
Monod functions, used in describing resource-use efficiency and resource-response efficiency pertaining to biomass production from nutrients, helped reveal that along a natural fertility gradient in 3 North Carolina peatland communities nutrient efficiency is inversely related to availability till some ideal resource level beyond which nutrient deficiency induces a decline in efficiency. This model used the ratio of litterfall production to different types of nutrient pool size as an index of nutrient-response efficiency in revealing that at suboptimal nutrient levels efficiency declined significantly in infertile peatland communities.
Publication Name: The American Naturalist
Subject: Earth sciences
ISSN: 0003-0147
Year: 1995
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Selective foraging and ecosystem processes in boreal forests
Article Abstract:
Selective herbivory by moose (Alces alces) and beaver (Castor canadensis) in boreal forest ecosystems was simulated to show the link among plant chemistry, foraging behavior and litter decomposition. Based on the study, a general model of boreal food webs is proposed, taking into account that primary plants can either be palatable or unpalatable to selective herbivores. It was shown that herbivory has far-reaching effects on ecosystem development by altering plant species dominance and by dictating the type of litter and nutrients available for decomposers and plants, respectively.
Publication Name: The American Naturalist
Subject: Earth sciences
ISSN: 0003-0147
Year: 1992
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Mechanisms of foraging in mammalian herbivores: new models of functional response
Article Abstract:
Mechanistic models to show the functional response of herbivores to the abundance and distribution of plants were developed. The models are structured according to three patterns of plant distribution - spatially dispersed/non-apparent, spatially dispersed/apparent and spatially concentrated. In addition, the models assumed an overlap between food-searching and food-processing. The implications of the study for research on the regulation of intake of mammalian herbivores are discussed.
Publication Name: The American Naturalist
Subject: Earth sciences
ISSN: 0003-0147
Year: 1992
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