QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

Help viewing high resolution images Return to article

Fig. 2. Relationship between mean retention time of particles in the digestive tract (MRT, h) and body mass (M_b, g) for a range of herbivorous species that ferment in the cecum (unfilled triangles), foregut (filled circles), or colon (filled triangles). Solid line is the allometric relationship between MRT and M_b (MRT=7.3M_b^{0.17±0.05 [95% CI]}, r²=0.43, N=60). Short broken line represents the earliest appearance of particles (=MRT/3), long broken line represents the final appearance of particles (=4xMRT). Filled squares, cecum fermenting species not included in the regression analysis because standardised residuals were more than 2 S.D. from the regression mean; unfilled circle, a foregut fermenting species excluded for the same reason. Insectivores, carnivores and piscivores (unfilled squares) are included for comparison, and have MRT values 2-13 times shorter than that predicted for herbivores of similar size. Data from Krockenberger and Bryden (1994), Morris et al. (1994) Stevens and Hume (1995), Caton et al. (1996), Comport and Hume (1998), Bodley et al. (1999), Campbell et al. (1999), McClelland et al. (1999), Felicetti et al. (2000), Gibson and Hume (2000), Hume et al. (2000), Pei et al. (2001).

Return to article