The adaptation of herbivore behavior to seasonal and locational variations in vegetation quantity and quality is inadequately modelled by conventional methods. Norman Owen-Smith innovatively links the principles of adaptive behavior to their consequences for population dynamics and community ecology, through the application of a metaphysiological modeling approach. The main focus is on large mammalian herbivores occupying seasonally variable environments such as those characterized by African savannas, but applications to temperate zone ungulates are also included. Issues of habitat suitability, species coexistence, and population stability or instability are similarly investigated.

... extremely easy to read and I have no doubt that many courses will use this book as material for teaching undergraduates. Having said that, graduates and researchers alike will find much to enjoy and debate in the book...Owen-Smith has done a sterling job in pulling the disparate theory of plant-herbivore interactions and the consequences for system dynamics into one book. Ecoscience