Mass invariance of population nitrogen flux by terrestrial mammalian herbivores: an extension of the energetic equivalence rule

Habeck, Christopher W.; Meehan, Timothy D.

doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01198.x

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…). Irrespective of Damuth’s rule, Habeck & Meehan’s (2008) data indicate that N excretion per unit biomass declines with increasing body size in the same way as mass‐specific metabolic rate (i.e. , following ), consistent with the data depicted in Fig.…”

Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…By combining Principles (III) and (IV), Habeck & Meehan (2008) recently presented evidence that total N flux is about the same for populations of herbivorous mammals that range in size from a mouse to a moose. They obtained this result by combining Damuth’s (1981) rule, which describes the size‐dependence of population abundance for mammals (), with the observation that N excretion rate is proportional to metabolic rate (i.e.…”

Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… Size‐dependence of average N flux per unit biomass for herbivorous mammal populations ranging in size from a mouse to a moose (species‐level logarithmic averages of data compiled in Habeck & Meehan 2008). The fitted OLS regression slope is statistically indistinguishable ( P > 0.05) from the predicted value of −0.25 (following ).…”

Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards an integration of ecological stoichiometry and the metabolic theory of ecology to better understand nutrient cycling

Allen¹,

Gillooly²

2009

Ecology Letters

283

264

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Ecologists have long recognized that species are sustained by the flux, storage and turnover of two biological currencies: energy, which fuels biological metabolism and materials (i.e. chemical elements), which are used to construct biomass. Ecological theories often describe the dynamics of populations, communities and ecosystems in terms of either energy (e.g. population-dynamics theory) or materials (e.g. resource-competition theory). These two classes of theory have been formulated using different assumptions, and yield distinct, but often complementary predictions for the same or similar phenomena. For example, the energy-based equation of von Bertalanffy and the nutrient-based equation of Droop both describe growth. Yet, there is relatively little theoretical understanding of how these two distinct classes of theory, and the currencies they use, are interrelated. Here, we begin to address this issue by integrating models and concepts from two rapidly developing theories, the metabolic theory of ecology and ecological stoichiometry theory. We show how combining these theories, using recently published theory and data along with new theoretical formulations, leads to novel predictions on the flux, storage and turnover of energy and materials that apply to animals, plants and unicells. The theory and results presented here highlight the potential for developing a more general ecological theory that explicitly relates the energetics and stoichiometry of individuals, communities and ecosystems to subcellular structures and processes. We conclude by discussing the basic and applied implications of such a theory, and the prospects and challenges for further development.

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Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Principles For Integrating Mte and Estmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards an integration of ecological stoichiometry and the metabolic theory of ecology to better understand nutrient cycling

Allen¹,

Gillooly²

2009

Ecology Letters

283

264

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“…Urine deposition rates (U; ml 24 h −1 ) scale to mass (M) as U = aM 0.75 (Peters 1983;Brown et al 2004) and animal density (N km −2 ) scales as n = bM −0.75 (Peters 1983). Based on these scaling relationships, a corollary of the energy equivalence rule (Damuth 1981(Damuth , 2007Nee et al 1991) predicts mammal urine deposition as a product of species richness and the two normalization constants: U = Nab (Habeck and Meehan 2008), where a = 60.85 (Edwards 1975), and b = 4.06 (Ebenman et al 1995). Thus, a lowland Ecuadorian forest with 199 nonvolant, non-domesticated, terrestrial mammal species (InfoNatura 2007) should receive ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urine as an important source of sodium increases decomposition in an inland but not coastal tropical forest

Clay

Kaspari

2014

Oecologia

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decomposition was twofold higher on Urine+Na and +Na plots compared to H 2 O and Urine−Na plots accompanied by >20-fold increases in termite abundance on these plots. Panama, in contrast, showed no effect of Na on decomposition. In both forests, plots fertilized with urine had nearly twofold decrease in detritivores after 2 weeks that was likely a shock effect from ammonification. Moreover, the non-Na nutrients in urine did not enhance decomposition at this time scale. On control plots, Panama had higher decomposition rates for both cellulose and wood than Ecuador, but the addition of Na in Ecuador alleviated these differences. These results support the hypothesis that in Na-poor tropical forests, urine can enhance wood decomposition and generate an important source of heterogeneity in the abundance and activity of brown food webs.

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“…Despite their small size, voles are capable of impacting the composition and abundance of plants in grassland systems [66], influencing ecosystem-level processes such as nutrient cycling [67], and contributing to the input or removal of resources at levels comparable to much larger herbivores [67]–[69]. Furthermore, voles are a common dietary component for an array of predators [70].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Global Atmospheric Change on the Feeding Behavior and Growth Performance of a Mammalian Herbivore, Microtus ochrogaster

Habeck

Lindroth

2013

PLoS ONE

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Global atmospheric change is influencing the quality of plants as a resource for herbivores. We investigated the impacts of elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) on the phytochemistry of two forbs, Solidago canadensis and Taraxacum officinale, and the subsequent feeding behavior and growth performance of weanling prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) feeding on those plants. Plants for the chemical analyses and feeding trials were harvested from the understory of control (ambient air), elevated CO2 (560 µl CO2 l−1), and elevated O3 (ambient × 1.5) rings at the Aspen FACE (Free Air CO2 Enrichment) site near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. We assigned individual voles to receive plants from only one FACE ring and recorded plant consumption and weanling body mass for seven days. Elevated CO2 and O3 altered the foliar chemistry of both forbs, but only female weanling voles on the O3 diet showed negative responses to these changes. Elevated CO2 increased the fiber fractions of both plant species, whereas O3 fumigation elicited strong responses among many phytochemical components, most notably increasing the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio by 40% and decreasing N by 26%. Consumption did not differ between plant species or among fumigation treatments. Male voles were unaffected by the fumigation treatments, whereas female voles grew 36% less than controls when fed O3-grown plants. These results demonstrate that global atmospheric change has the potential to affect the performance of a mammalian herbivore through changes in plant chemistry.

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Mass invariance of population nitrogen flux by terrestrial mammalian herbivores: an extension of the energetic equivalence rule

Cited by 11 publications

References 37 publications

Towards an integration of ecological stoichiometry and the metabolic theory of ecology to better understand nutrient cycling

Towards an integration of ecological stoichiometry and the metabolic theory of ecology to better understand nutrient cycling

Urine as an important source of sodium increases decomposition in an inland but not coastal tropical forest

Influence of Global Atmospheric Change on the Feeding Behavior and Growth Performance of a Mammalian Herbivore, Microtus ochrogaster

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