Midterm 2 Flashcards
Define each primate diet and give examples of each Frugivore Folivore Insectivores Gumnivores
Frugivore- fruit -spider monkeys, guenons Folivore- leaves - colobines, howler monkeys Insectivores- insects - bushbabies Gumnivores- plant gum - mouse lemurs
What do organisms need from food?
A. Vitamins minerals trace elements to regulate bodily processes eg. Na, K, Mg, Ca…. used for fluid regulation nervous system function etc.
B. Nutritional components
1. Proteins:
Essential amino acids not manufactured by the body
2. Carbohydrates:
Energy and also roughage
Simple sugars - easily digested…glucose/fructose
Complex sugars- difficult to digest….cellulose
What should be avoided in food?
A. physical defences such a spines and thorns
Protective ants
B. Chemical defences:
Plant secondary compounds
Alkaloids: toxins leave the gut and disrupt metabolic processes such as nicotine and caffeine
Tannins : digestibility reducing agents dose-dependent example green tea green fruit
What kind of food has what you need Fruit Flowers Leaves Saps/gums Insects/meat
A. Fruit: simple sugars no protein
B. Leaves: complex carbohydrates( but difficult to digest) protein and vitamins but also secondary compounds
C. Flowers: simple sugars in nectar and protein in Pollen
D. Saps/gums: simple+ complex sugars water minerals
Insects/meat:protein, fat
What is homeostasis?
Internal body temperature maintenance by an organism
What is Basal metabolic rate?
The amount of energy needed for homeostasis
What is basal metabolic rate determined by?
Body size
The larger the body, the more energy needed to fuel it.
What is the major determinant in diet choice?
Energy
What is the formula for Keiber’s law??
.75
BMR=70(body weight)
Demonstrate keibler’s law and how it shows that larger species need fewer calories per unit body weight
Tarsier bw- 0.1kg
BMR 12.5
BMR/kg=125
Gorilla bw- 100kg
BMR 2214
BMR/kg = 22.2
Why do larger species need fewer calories per unit body weight??
- BMR devoted to maintaining internal body temp. Which gets sucked out by environment (i.e most of BMR to combat heat loss)
- heat loss occurs through skin
-amount of heat you lose and therefore the BMR needed to combat heat loss, is determined by how much skin you have
SURFACE AREA!!!!
How does surface area scale with body size? Formula
SA=(vol).67 power
Example with cubes
Smaller the cube the higher the surface area:volume ratio
Bigger cube the lower SA:VOL ratio
See slide 18 basic life problems
Being large means you have proportionately less SA for your volume
… proportionately less heat loss
Being large is good way to conserve heat (energy)
Explain how guy capacity is important factor foe diet choice
Food digestibility (how much time in stomach) called gut retention Which is a function of gut capacity which scales with body size
How does gut capacity scale with body size
Gut capacity=(body weight)1.05 power
Food digestibility improves with increased body size
What are the implications for diet choice in small animals?
- High relative BMR
- Small gut capacity
- need high quality, rapidly assimilated food
Few food choices
What are the implications for diet choice in large animals?
- Low relative BMR
- Large gut capacity
- can tolerate low quality hard to digest food
More choices
What does ultimate diet choice depend on?
Availability of food types and energy needed to harvest them
What are the interrelated factors that diet choice is governed by?
Body size
➡️SA:VOL
➡️heat loss ➡️BMR
➡️gut capacity➡️food digestibility
Food quality ➕availability
What are the basic feeding adaptations to the feeding niche?
Body size Teeth slide 37 Gut anatomy (slide 38) Body composition Behavior
What are the 3 types of teeth adaptations and what are they used for?
- Hexagon top and bottom for cutting meat
- Squares top and bottom - crushing/grinding - fruits and seeds
- Small sharp triangles top and bottom grind/ cut - leaves
What are the parts of the gut anatomy?
Stomach- primary digestion
Small intestine- primary absorption
Caecum- blind pouch.. symbiotic bacteria
Large intestine- water and some nutrient absorption
Explain the gut specializations for folivory
Stomach enlargement/ subdivision Caecum enlargement (hindgut fermentation) and ceacotrophy (ingestion of feces)
What is important to know about body composition adaptation for diet choice?
Reduction of energetically expensive tissues in folivores
Lean muscle mass
Brain size
Leaves and fruits
What are the three behavioural dietary adaptations?
- General Activity level eg. Folivores lethargic because a) reduces energy consumption
b)improves digestion - Ranging - frugivores should have larger home range with patches of food fruit
Folivores smaller ranges with more abundant and uniform food sources
leaves - Territoriality- non territorial over lapping ranges or territorial non overlapping ranges