Megaherbivores: The Influence of Very Large Body Size on Ecology (Cambridge Studies in Ecology)

Owen-Smith examines the ecology, behavior, and also the conservation of the largest land mammals, often referred to as \'megahebivores\'. Existing species are placed in the context of the more numerous species that occured worldwide until the end of the last Ice Age. Large body size influences all aspects of ecology, from food selection and digestion to home range, social organization, reproduction, life history, and population regulation. Knowledge of the ecology of surviving species is used to analyze the causes of the extinctions of there species. The suggestion is made that large mammals played a crucial role in maintaining the productivity and diversity of ecosystems, and that their demise through human overkill in northern Eurasia and the Americas at the end of the Pleistocene was a contributory cause of the extinctions of numerous other species at this time. The information and ideas contained in this book are crucial importance to all concerned with halting the rapidly worsening conservation status of remaining elephant and rhinoceros species, and carry a wider message for those concerned with the effects of humans on ecosystems.

An account of the limitations and advantages conferred by large body size.

Norman Owen-Smith's account of the ecology of the largest land mammals emphasises the constraints resulting from their body size. Many important questions are raised. For example, why have these once abundant and widely distributed animals all but gone extinct? The book considers the implications of the answer for the conservation of remaining populations. Existing megaherbivores (elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes) are placed in the context of the more numerous species which occurred worldwide until the end of the last Ice Age. Knowledge of the ecology of surviving species is used to analyse the cause of the extinctions. The information and ideas contained in this book are of crucial importance to all concerned with halting the rapidly worsening conservation status of remaining elephant and rhinoceros species, and carries a wider message for those concerned with the effects of man on ecosystem processes.

Owen-Smith's account of the ecology of the largest land mammals (elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes) emphasises the constraints resulting from their body size. Many important questions are raised. For example, why have these once abundant and widely distributed animals all but gone extinct?

The largest land mammals are constrained in their activities by their large body size, a theme that is emphasized in this account of their general ecology. The book begins by raising the question as to why these once abundant and widely distributed 'megaherbivores' - elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes - have all but gone extinct, and ends by considering the implications of the answer for the conservation of the remaining populations. Existing megaherbivores are placed in the context of the more numerous species which occurred worldwide until the end of the last Ice Age, and knowledge of the ecology of surviving species is used to analyse the cause of the extinctions. The information and ideas contained in this book are of crucial importance to all concerned with halting the rapidly worsening conservation status of remaining elephant and rhinoceros species, and carries a wider message for those concerned with the ramifying effects of man on ecosystem processes. Graduate students and research scientists in ecology, conservation biology and wildlife management will find this book of value.

This book is an account of the general ecology of the largest land mammals, emphasizing the constraints imposed by a very large body size.

Prologue; 1. Morphology, evolutionary history and recent distribution; 2. Food and other habitat resources; 3. Space-time patterns of habitat use; 4. Body size and nutritional physiology; 5. Body size and feeding ecology; 6. Social organisation and behaviour; 7. Life history; 8. Body size and sociobiology; 9. Body size and reproductive patterns; 10. Demography; 11. Community interactions; 12. Body size and population regulation; 13. Body size and ecosystem processes; 14. Late Pleistocene extinctions; 15. Conservation; Epilogue: the megaherbivore syndrome; Appendixes; References; Index.