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Reproductive Consequences of Dietary Specialization and Switching in an Ecological Generalist

  • Chapter
Foraging Behavior

Abstract

The foraging behavior of animals in complex environments is affected by conflicting demands (cf. Sih 1980, Martindale 1982, 1983, Cerri & Fraser 1983) and may be dependent on more than one aspect of prey quality (Pulliam 1975, Westoby 1978, Nicotri 1980, Breitwisch et al. 1984). Various currencies have been suggested that could affect the dietary selection of a foraging animal. These include energy intake per unit of time (Schoener 1971), maximizing intake of an essential nutrient (Goss-Custard 1981), and mixing nutrient intake to ensure adequate nutrition (Westoby 1978, Nicotri 1980).

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© 1987 Plenum Press, New York

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Pierotti, R., Annett, C. (1987). Reproductive Consequences of Dietary Specialization and Switching in an Ecological Generalist. In: Kamil, A.C., Krebs, J.R., Pulliam, H.R. (eds) Foraging Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9027-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1839-2

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