Excess digestive capacity in predators reflects a life of feast and famine

Jonathan B. Armstrong () and Daniel E. Schindler
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Jonathan B. Armstrong: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Box 355020, University of Washington
Daniel E. Schindler: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, Box 355020, University of Washington

Nature, 2011, vol. 476, issue 7358, 84-87

Abstract: The cost of irregular meals In an ideal world, food supplies would be regular and frequent, so organisms could invest in just the right amount of capacity for digestion (which comes at a cost). But faced with unpredictable supplies, organisms must invest in spare digestive capacity, so that when food is available they can process it. Jonathan Armstrong and Daniel Schindler have modelled the dynamics of food supply and investment in digestion, and collected data on the actual digestive capacities of 38 fish species. They find that fish maintain up to three times more digestive capacity than they need. The excess suggests that predator–prey encounters are much patchier than is generally assumed.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature10240

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