Trophic-Energetic Bases of Functioning and Stability of Natural Populations of Herbivorous Mammals

Abstract

Using the example of various groups of herbivorous mammals, it is shown that the spatial, seasonal and long-term dynamics of energy resources directly affects the level of their consumption by animals, determines changes in the intensity of reproduction, mortality and migration processes, and, ultimately, the state and stability of populations. The supply of nutrients and energy is initially limited, that determines certain forms of ecological processes according to the hierarchy of components of the energy budget. The energy balance of the organism acts as a universal integral indicator of the effectiveness of the adaptation capabilities of the organism to environmental factors at every moment of its life cycle.