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Assuaging nutritional complexity: a geometrical approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Stephen J. Simpson  and
David Raubenheimer
Stephen J. Simpson*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
David Raubenheimer
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
*
*Corresponding Author: Professor S. J. Simpson, fax +44 (0)1865 272970, email [email protected]
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Abstract

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We have introduced a framework that enables the identification of the important elements in complex nutritional systems, and the quantification of the interactions among them. These interactions include those among the multiple constituents of the ingesta, as well as between behavioural (ingestive) and physiological (post-ingestive) components of nutritional homeostasis. The resulting descriptions provide a powerful means to generate and test hypotheses concerning the mechanisms, ecology and evolution of nutritional systems. We provide an overview of the key concepts involved in our scheme, and then introduce four examples in which the framework is used to develop and test hypotheses. In the first example we use comparative methods based on a data set of 117 insect species to test a prediction about the relationship between evolving an association with bacterial endosymbionts and the composition of the optimal diet. Second, using two species of locusts (a grass specialist and a generalist), we consider the relationship between an animal's diet breadth and the decision rules employed when feeding on foods containing suboptimal protein: carbohydrate values. Third, we introduce a mathematical model that predicts the dose-response properties of gustatory systems in the context of nutritional homeostasis. Finally, we consider the interaction between tannic acid and macronutrient balance in the diet of locusts.

Keywords

Nutrient balancingGeometric models of nutritionInsectsFeeding behaviour
Type
Symposium on ‘Social and environmental influences on diet choice’
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 1999 , pp. 779 - 789
Copyright
The Nutrition Society

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