Nutritional physiology and ecology of wildlife in a changing world.

Kim Birnie-Gauvin,Steven J Cooke,Kathryn S Peiman,David Raubenheimer

doi:10.1093/conphys/cox030

Kim Birnie-Gauvin, Steven J Cooke + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/cox030

Copy DOI

Abstract

Over the last century, humans have modified landscapes, generated pollution and provided opportunities for exotic species to invade areas where they did not evolve. In addition, humans now interact with animals in a growing number of ways (e.g. ecotourism). As a result, the quality (i.e. nutrient composition) and quantity (i.e. food abundance) of dietary items consumed by wildlife have, in many cases, changed. We present representative examples of the extent to which vertebrate foraging behaviour, food availability (quantity and quality) and digestive physiology have been modified due to human-induced environmental changes and human activities. We find that these effects can be quite extensive, especially as a result of pollution and human-provisioned food sources (despite good intentions). We also discuss the role of nutrition in conservation practices, from the perspective of both in situ and ex situ conservation. Though we find that the changes in the nutritional ecology and physiology of wildlife due to human alterations are typically negative and largely involve impacts on foraging behaviour and food availability, the extent to which these will affect the fitness of organisms and result in evolutionary changes is not clearly understood, and requires further investigation.

Highlights

In the last century, humans have modified the global landscape to accommodate the growing human population (Vitousek et al, 1997)
Though we find that the changes in the nutritional ecology and physiology of wildlife due to human alterations are typically negative and largely involve impacts on foraging behaviour and food availability, the extent to which these will affect the fitness of organisms and result in evolutionary changes is not clearly understood, and requires further investigation
Nutritional ecology investigates the relationships among diet, digestive physiology and feeding behaviour (Foley and Cork, 1992; Raubenheimer et al, 2009), while nutritional physiology focuses on the subset of relationships related to the intake and assimilation of food items

Summary

Introduction

Humans have modified the global landscape to accommodate the growing human population (Vitousek et al, 1997). We focus on how food choices and digestion are affected by the abundance (quantitative limitation) and composition (qualitative limitation) of the foods available in a particular environment (Lambert, 2007; see Table 1 for commonly used tools to evaluate nutrition in animals). These fields have generated many insights that have made them a cornerstone for understanding the mechanisms that link ecological patterns and processes to animal phenotypes (Raubenheimer et al, 2009; Karasov et al, 2011; Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2012). Changes to primary producers involve both quality and abundance: increased temperature may lead to increased stratification of the water column in parts of the ocean, creating nutrient limitation and changing the dominant species of phytoplankton with unknown effects on higher trophic levels (Beardall et al, 2009); and Lake Tanganyika in Africa has already undergone decreases in phytoplankton productivity due to increased stratification from a combination of

Method

Findings

Conclusion and research needs