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Eating a second prey type helps herbivores' populations stabilize. [63] Alternating between two or more plant types provides population stability for the herbivore, while the populations of the plants oscillate. [62] This plays an important role for generalist herbivores that eat a variety of plants.
Primary consumers are herbivores, feeding on plants or algae. Caterpillars, insects, grasshoppers, termites and hummingbirds are all examples of primary consumers because they only eat autotrophs (plants). There are certain primary consumers that are called specialists because they only eat one type of producers.
Herbivory is of extreme ecological importance and prevalence among insects.Perhaps one third (or 500,000) of all described species are herbivores. [4] Herbivorous insects are by far the most important animal pollinators, and constitute significant prey items for predatory animals, as well as acting as major parasites and predators of plants; parasitic species often induce the formation of galls.
While the earliest mammals were probably predators, different species have since adapted to meet their dietary requirements in a variety of ways. Some eat other animals—this is a carnivorous diet (and includes insectivorous diets). Other mammals, called herbivores, eat plants, which contain complex carbohydrates such as cellulose.
Various terms have arisen to define consumers by what they eat, such as meat-eating carnivores, fish-eating piscivores, insect-eating insectivores, plant-eating herbivores, seed-eating granivores, and fruit-eating frugivores and omnivores are meat eaters and plant eaters.
From hay and vegetables to some garden plants and herbs, guinea pigs are herbivores at heart so they only eat plants and plant-based foods. 16. Guinea pigs can help relieve stress.
Teuthophagore: eating mainly squid and other cephalopods; Vermivore: eating worms; Zooplanktonivore: eating zooplankton; Herbivore: the eating of plants Exudativore: eating plant and/or insect exudates (gum, sap, lerp, etc.) Gummivore: eating tree sap or gum; Folivore: eating leaves; Florivore: eating flower tissue prior to seed coat formation
Herbivores are unable to digest complex cellulose and rely on mutualistic, internal symbiotic bacteria, fungi, or protozoa to break down cellulose so it can be used by the herbivore. Microbial symbionts also allow herbivores to eat plants that would otherwise be inedible by detoxifying plant secondary metabolites.