The Digestive System in Mammals Food Form and Function [Paperback]

Biochemical, physiological and morphological aspects of mammalian digestive systems.Using the themes of food, form and function, this integrative book examines the various types of food eaten by mammals, and the anatomical, physiological and ecological aspects of the processes used to digest food types.Using the themes of food, form and function, this integrative book examines the various types of food eaten by mammals, and the anatomical, physiological and ecological aspects of the processes used to digest food types.However well the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tracts of a wide range of mammals are described and quantified, there can be no real explanation of observed patterns without consideration of the mechanical and chemical properties of the food consumed, and digestive stages involved in its processing. This book aims to integrate findings from the many different types of investigations of mammalian digestive systems into a coherent whole. Using the themes of food, form and function, researchers discuss models of digestive processes, linking this with evolutionary aspects of food utilization. Macroscopic and ultrastructural studies of the gastrointestinal tract are also presented, as are physiological, ecological and biochemical aspects of the digestion of different food types. The book ends with an integrative chapter, bringing together the themes running through the earlier sections.Part I. Introduction: 1. Gut form and function D. J. Chivers and P. Langer; 2. Food and digestion of Caenozoic mammals in Europe P. Langer; 3. Modelling gut function C. Mart?nez del Rio, S. J. Cork and W. H. Karasov; 4. Optimum gut structure for specified diets R. McNeill Alexander; Part II. Food: 5. Foods and the digestive system C. M. Hladik and D. J. Chivers; 6. Classification of foods for comparative analysis of gastro-intestinal tracts P. Langer and D. J. Chivers; 7. The carnivorous herbivores R. J. Moir; 8. Nutritional ecology of fruit-eating and flower-visiting blÓo