Extreme precipitation variability, forage quality and large herbivore diet selection in arid environments

Abstract (from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/oik.04282/abstract): Nutritional ecology forms the interface between environmental variability and large herbivore behaviour, life history characteristics, and population dynamics. Forage conditions in arid and semi-arid regions are driven by unpredictable spatial and temporal patterns in rainfall. Diet selection by herbivores should be directed towards overcoming the most pressing nutritional limitation (i.e. energy, protein [nitrogen, N], moisture) within the constraints imposed by temporal and spatial variability in forage conditions. We investigated the influence of precipitation-induced shifts in forage nutritional quality and subsequent large herbivore...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: Drought, Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, Mammals, National CASC, Wildlife and Plants