Nutrition of marine mesograzers: integrating feeding behavior, nutrient intake and performance of an herbivorous amphipod.

ABSTRACT: Consumers can regulate the acquisition and use of nutrients through behavioral and physiological mechanisms. Here, we present an experimental approach that simultaneously integrates multiple nutritional traits, feeding assays, and juvenile performance to assess whether a marine herbivore (the amphipod Ampithoe valida) regulates the intake of elements (carbon and nitrogen), macronutrients (protein and non-protein) or both when offered freeze-dried tissues of seaweeds varying in nutritional content. We assessed behavioral regulation of nutrients in three ways. First, during no-choice assays, we found that amphipods ingested similar amounts of carbon, but not nitrogen, non-protein and protein, across algal diets. Second, herbivore intake rates of carbon, protein and non-protein compone

SUBMITTER: Machado GBO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6231427 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature