Explicit concepts for feeding behaviour: browsers versus grazers

[AntonCollembola]

At present herbivorous browsers versus herbivorous grazers are included. These concepts explain the foraging strategy (grazing on what is there versus searching for the best options). These concepts are coming from mammalian vertebrates, but in principla are applicable to any trophic group (resrouce): there can be herbivorous browsers (mobile herbivorous invertebrates), fungivorous browsers (some springtails), bacterivorous browsers (some protists), detritivorous browsers (some cockroaches), carnivorous browsers (predators that search for specific prey). I think browsers versus grazers can be added as concepts independently of the food resources. The only problem - we don't have information on these strategies for almost all soil animals :)

[nleguillarme]

Is it related to #82 (browsing and grazing as specific feeding strategies) or do we need to make a distinction between the feeding strategy and the foraging strategy ?

[nleguillarme]

I've added the foollowing two subclasses of heterotroph:

• grazer = "A heterotroph that feeds on both cell-walls and cell-contents."
• browser = "A heterotroph that feeds on cell-contents without ingesting the actual cell-walls."

In the future, they could be subdivided into herbivorous/fungivorous/bacterivorous browser/grazer.

Definitions are from: Siepel, H., & de Ruiter-Dijkman, E. M. (1993). Feeding guilds of oribatid mites based on their carbohydrase activities. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 25(11), 1491-1497.

Please validate or propose alternative definitions

[AntonCollembola]

This is ok in the framework of soil ecology, but is not applicable generally. I think that grazer/browser dichotom comes from African savannas and unigulates (I may be mistaken). In a broader sense, grazer eats what is there, while browser searches and 'picks cherries'. So probably these definitions should be explanded, while keeping specific examples for soil detritivores