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Science 7 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5706, pp. 111 - 113
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105493
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Reports

Nutrient-Specific Foraging in Invertebrate Predators

David Mayntz,1,2* David Raubenheimer,1,3 Mor Salomon,4 Søren Toft,2 Stephen J. Simpson1{dagger}

Many herbivores and omnivores adjust their food selection behavior to regulate the intake of multiple nutrients. Carnivores, however, are generally assumed to optimize the rate of prey capture rather than select prey according to nutrient composition. We showed experimentally that invertebrate predators can forage selectively for protein and lipids to redress specific nutritional imbalances. This selection can take place at different stages of prey handling: The predator may select among foods of different nutritional composition, eat more of a prey if it is rich in nutrients that the predator is deficient in, or extract specific nutrients from a single prey item.

1 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Department of Ecology and Genetics, Aarhus University, 8000 Århus C, Denmark.
3 School of Biological Sciences and Psychology Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
4 Life Sciences Department and Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.



{dagger} Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Heydon-Laurence Building, A08, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: david.mayntz{at}zoology.oxford.ac.uk

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