Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality
Structural carbohydrates in plants are hard to digest by the animals that eat them, and they hamper digestion of the content of the plant cells. The efficiency of digestion by herbivores is, therefore, closely related to both the retention time of the food in the digestive tract and the proportion o...
Published in: | Functional Ecology |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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1992
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 2024-06-23T07:50:11+00:00 Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality Prop, J. Vulink, T. 1992 https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 eng eng https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Prop , J & Vulink , T 1992 , ' Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle : The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality ' , Functional Ecology , vol. 6 , no. 2 , pp. 180-189 . https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 ARCTIC PLANTS BRANTA-LEUCOPSIS BRYOPHYTES CECA DIGESTIBILITY FOOD SELECTION MINIMIZING FEEDING TIME TRADE-OFFS article 1992 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 2024-06-10T16:10:47Z Structural carbohydrates in plants are hard to digest by the animals that eat them, and they hamper digestion of the content of the plant cells. The efficiency of digestion by herbivores is, therefore, closely related to both the retention time of the food in the digestive tract and the proportion of cell walls in the food. This study examined food digestion by free-living barnacle geese Branta leucopsis in relation to food quality and retention time. Over the range of short winter days (8 h light) to continuous light in the arctic breeding area the geese increased the food retention time two- to four-fold. Low throughput rates in summer resulted in enhanced digestion of the food. The organic matter digestibility of graminoids, corrected for differences in protein content, was 37% in winter, and 56% in summer. Enhanced digestion allowed the geese to extend their food spectrum by exploiting mosses (bryophytes), which are, at least temporarily, the only plants available in the summer range. The disadvantage of prolonged food retention time is the concurrent decrease of the amount of food that can be processed per time unit. The digestion pattern in the successive periods of the year can be regarded as an adaptation to differences in energy needs, and to differences in the selective force acting on the geese to minimize feeding time. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Branta leucopsis University of Groningen research database Arctic Functional Ecology 6 2 180 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
ARCTIC PLANTS BRANTA-LEUCOPSIS BRYOPHYTES CECA DIGESTIBILITY FOOD SELECTION MINIMIZING FEEDING TIME TRADE-OFFS |
spellingShingle |
ARCTIC PLANTS BRANTA-LEUCOPSIS BRYOPHYTES CECA DIGESTIBILITY FOOD SELECTION MINIMIZING FEEDING TIME TRADE-OFFS Prop, J. Vulink, T. Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
topic_facet |
ARCTIC PLANTS BRANTA-LEUCOPSIS BRYOPHYTES CECA DIGESTIBILITY FOOD SELECTION MINIMIZING FEEDING TIME TRADE-OFFS |
description |
Structural carbohydrates in plants are hard to digest by the animals that eat them, and they hamper digestion of the content of the plant cells. The efficiency of digestion by herbivores is, therefore, closely related to both the retention time of the food in the digestive tract and the proportion of cell walls in the food. This study examined food digestion by free-living barnacle geese Branta leucopsis in relation to food quality and retention time. Over the range of short winter days (8 h light) to continuous light in the arctic breeding area the geese increased the food retention time two- to four-fold. Low throughput rates in summer resulted in enhanced digestion of the food. The organic matter digestibility of graminoids, corrected for differences in protein content, was 37% in winter, and 56% in summer. Enhanced digestion allowed the geese to extend their food spectrum by exploiting mosses (bryophytes), which are, at least temporarily, the only plants available in the summer range. The disadvantage of prolonged food retention time is the concurrent decrease of the amount of food that can be processed per time unit. The digestion pattern in the successive periods of the year can be regarded as an adaptation to differences in energy needs, and to differences in the selective force acting on the geese to minimize feeding time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Prop, J. Vulink, T. |
author_facet |
Prop, J. Vulink, T. |
author_sort |
Prop, J. |
title |
Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
title_short |
Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
title_full |
Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
title_fullStr |
Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
title_full_unstemmed |
Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle:The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality |
title_sort |
digestion by barnacle geese in the annual cycle:the interplay between retention time and food quality |
publishDate |
1992 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Branta leucopsis |
genre_facet |
Arctic Branta leucopsis |
op_source |
Prop , J & Vulink , T 1992 , ' Digestion by Barnacle Geese in the Annual Cycle : The Interplay Between Retention Time and Food Quality ' , Functional Ecology , vol. 6 , no. 2 , pp. 180-189 . https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 |
op_relation |
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0d46928b-befd-4760-b084-66439cf6f7b6 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2307/2389753 |
container_title |
Functional Ecology |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
180 |
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1802641054068899840 |