| Summary: | FROM BEARS TO BIRDS: EXTENDING THE APPLICATION OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL NUTRITIONAL ECOLOGY ABSTRACT Across various disciplines studies of nutrition have traditionally tended to focus on individual nutritional factors. There is abundant evidence, however, that a multidimensional approach is more powerful at explaining and predicting nutritionally related phenomena than examining single variables in isolation, yet is not widely applied. The purpose of this thesis is to extend the application of multidimensional nutrition to a number of new questions, thereby extending its reach across the broad interdisciplinary field of nutritional ecology. I first consider the foraging behavior of obligate carnivores from a nutrient-based perspective in a conceptual review. I then use nutritional geometry to apply the concept of macronutrient balance within a traditional wildlife diet study using data collected from Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur). I explore how the macronutrient preferences of an omnivorous carnivore, the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), is likely to influence food related human-wildlife conflict. I review the nutritional ecology of urban birds, and argue that adopting a multidimensional nutritional approach is likely to advance the field of urban ecology. I then apply this concept in an experiment on free-ranging Australian white ibis (Threskiornis moluccus) in urban Sydney, Australia. Next, I employ phylogenetic meta-analysis of variance and meta-regression to evaluate the degree of intraspecific variance in the macronutrient composition of mammalian milk. Last, I relate monthly trends in online search query data with actual population diet using data from an Australian nutrition survey. Although diverse, each of these studies provides fresh insight into questions which would not be apparent when restricted to single nutritional factors. Altogether, and in conjunction with previous research, the content of this thesis emphasizes the importance of multidimensional thinking as a general approach in nutritional ...
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