Comments On “Predictive Modelling Of Patch Use By Terrestrial Herbivores”

Fryxell's aim (Chapter 6) is to evaluate the current understanding of forage intake and patch selection by herbivores across temporal and spatial scales, where resource (food) heterogeneity is large. His approach starts at a description of the functional response, i.e., the food intake response of consumers to quantitative changes in the resource supply. Re-developing several models of food and energy intake applicable at the detailed level of feeding station, he places bite size or bite processing central to short-term food procurement. This is then developed into longer-term (daily) food or energy intake functions, where digestive rather than bite-size or bite-processing constraints may operate.