Daily Archives: October 5, 2011

Like these dills, who claim that faster growing plants will cause herbivores to run out of food(!). Apparently they are unaware grazing populations always increase to exploit the available resource rather than decline because of it. Further, said ecologists do not seem to be aware that temperature is not the sole determinant of herbivore growth – something called “nutrition” has an effect too (i.e., if there’s not enough food young herbivores grow less quickly). I’m embarrassed to see that University of Queensland faculty was also involved in this theoretical claptrap.

Herbivore populations will go down as temperatures go up, U of T study says
If predictions are right, global warming will cause large shifts in food chains with consequences for global food security and species conservation.
October 4, 2011
By Jessica Lewis

As climate change causes temperatures to rise, the number of herbivores will decrease, affecting the human food supply, according to new research from the University of Toronto.

In a paper being published this month in American Naturalist, a team of ecologists describe how differences in the general responses of plants and herbivores to temperature change produces predictable declines in herbivore populations. This decrease occurs because herbivores grow more quickly at high temperatures than plants do, and as a result the herbivores run out of food. (UToronto)