Physiological Ecology

Unlocking the puzzle of how animals behave and how they interact with their environments is impossible without understanding the physiological processes that determine their use of food resources. But long overdue is a user-friendly introduction to the subject that systematically bridges the gap between physiology and ecology. Ecologists – for whom such knowledge can help clarify the consequences of global climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and pollution – often find themselves wading through an unwieldy, technically top-heavy literature.

Here, William Karasov and Carlos Martínez del Rio present the first accessible and authoritative one-volume overview of the physiological and biochemical principles that shape how animals procure energy and nutrients and free themselves of toxins – and how this relates to broader ecological phenomena.

After introducing primary concepts, the authors review the chemical ecology of food, and then discuss how animals digest and process food. Their broad view includes symbioses and extends even to ecosystem phenomena such as ecological stochiometry and toxicant biomagnification. They introduce key methods and illustrate principles with wide-ranging vertebrate and invertebrate examples. Uniquely, they also link the physiological mechanisms of resource use with ecological phenomena such as how and why animals choose what they eat and how they participate in the exchange of energy and materials in their biological communities.

Thoroughly up-to-date and pointing the way to future research, Physiological Ecology is an essential new source for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students – and an ideal synthesis for professionals. This is the most accessible introduction to the physiological and biochemical principles that shape how animals use resources. It is unique in linking the physiological mechanisms of resource use with ecological phenomena.

Preface   xi
Acknowledgments   xv

Section I: Overview
Chapter One: Basic concepts: budgets, allometry, temperature, and the imprint of history   3

Section II: Chemical Ecology of Food
Chapter Two: The chemistry and biology of food   49

Section III: Digestive Ecology
Chapter Three: Food intake and utilization efficiency   117
Chapter Four: Simple guts: the ecological biochemistry and physiology of catalytic digestion   155
Chapter Five: Photosynthetic animals and gas-powered mussels: the physiological ecology of nutritional symbioses   238
Chapter Six: Digestive symbioses: how insect and vertebrate herbivores cope with low quality plant foods   303

Section IV: The Ecology of Postabsorptive Nutrient Processing
Chapter Seven: Postabsorptive processing of nutrients   397
Chapter Eight: Isotopic ecology   433
Chapter Nine: How animals deal with poisons and pollutants   479

Section V: Limiting Nutrients
Chapter Ten: Ecological stoichiometry   535
Chapter Eleven: Nitrogen and mineral requirements   569
Chapter Twelve: Water requirement and water flux   608

Section VI: Production in Budgets of Mass and Energy
Chapter Thirteen: Growth in budgets of mass and energy   647
Chapter Fourteen: Reproduction in budgets of mass and energy   697

Index   725