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Introduction: Grazers and Browsers in a Changing World

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The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 195))

If humanity is at the brink of a ‘Golden Age’, what then is the divination for nature? In this book we will try to foretell how wild herbivores will react to the changes that take place in the world in which they live. That world has been changing since it formed, and for millions of years its plants have been consumed by herbivores. This has led to adaptations in plants in reaction to herbivory, and our present-day species assemblages and landscapes are a manifestation of the forces of natural selection that have been in operation for a very long time. Over a much shorter time, these landscapes have been heavily impacted upon by humans; firstly, by accidentally burning patches of the landscape, but later as a tool to modify that landscape either for capturing or luring game or even for changing the species composition towards a modified vegetation that yields desired produce (e.g., cultivation of hazel in the Mesolithic; Simmons et al. 1981).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Davies Laboratory, PMB PO Aitkenvale, Qld 4814, Australia

    Iain J. Gordon

  2. Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Herbert H. T. Prins

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  1. Iain J. Gordon
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. PMB PO Aitkenvale, Qld 4814, Australia

    Iain J. Gordon

  2. Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Herbert H. T. Prins

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Gordon, I.J., Prins, H.H.T. (2008). Introduction: Grazers and Browsers in a Changing World. In: Gordon, I.J., Prins, H.H.T. (eds) The Ecology of Browsing and Grazing. Ecological Studies, vol 195. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72422-3_1

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