Importance of Herbivores

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Herbivorous animals are those that obtain their food directly from plants. Plants, fungi and even algae, when they become the exclusive menu of an animal species, have this commensal as the controller of their own population, being able to say that the first ecological function of herbivores is to collaborate in the noble work of maintaining the balance in biodiversity vegetable. Among the eating habits of animals, we find that herbivores in turn serve as a nutritional source for most carnivores, thus maintaining the dynamics in the flow of energy that allows the maintenance of ecosystems, through a diversity of species that evolutionarily They have managed to establish control mechanisms among themselves, with which to guarantee that each species obtains and provides what is necessary for the survival of the species. the rest.

Feeding of Herbivores

Each species on the planet has evolved based on the resources available to it in its own environment, but This has happened in such a way that the same resources could be used in different ways by each of the species.

If we observe, for example, the dynamics of herbivorous animals in African grasslands, we realize that each species feeds even of different parts of the same plants, this as a consequence of the extreme climatic conditions of those areas, which in turn limit the development of a greater diversity of species, causing the existing ones to have coevolved in such a way that their interaction is even more rigorous. The smallest herbivores find food in the lower areas of the plants.

Roots, stems and shoots close to the ground, as well as grasses and grasses, provide sustenance for impalas, zebras and other ruminants, as well as various smaller herbivores, however, higher creatures such as giraffes and birds, have at their free disposal whatever they find in treetops, including flowers and fruits, respecting among all the part of the plant that corresponds to eat, so that the diet of each species in environments with limited resources, becomes even more specific than that developed by herbivores in areas with greater biodiversity vegetable.

herbivorous invertebrates

The vast majority of invertebrate animals depend on plants, especially arthropods. Even the unwieldy mosquitoes feed on the sap of plants and the nectar of their flowers, needing the blood of vertebrates really only for reproductive purposes.

The fact that plants are able to take light energy from the sun and convert it into chemical energy for their own sustenance, has positioned these wonderful beings at the base of the trophic chain initiating the exchange of energy that makes it possible to maintain the rest of life on the planet. In this sense, invertebrates, as they are also one of the first species to appear and coevolve alongside plants, it was to be expected that they would find their source of energy in them, developing very various.

However, the closeness that invertebrates maintain to the plants that feed them has made them the perfect transmitters for a large number of microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria, as well as viruses, which is why they are usually not very well seen in cultures created by humans, due to all the diseases they can transmit and the very fact of eating what would be destined as food for the people.

herbivorous vertebrates

In the case of vertebrate animals that also feed on the plant kingdom, there are other factors to take into account, especially when it comes to farming activities. grazing created by the need for the massive rearing of cattle, goats and pigs, to mention some of the great consumers of plants that humanity has encouraged.

As a consequence of the high demand for plant species for the breeding of herbivorous vertebrates destined for our own food, it has been also required to implement large crops to maintain them, thus creating a new energetic dynamic that humans must hold under our control, since in a natural way it would be governed by the existing balance between all the species of the ecosystems and there would not be much left for our kitchens, due to that herbivorous vertebrates are also a source of food for other carnivorous animals, so we would have a lot of competition, as was the case in the prehistory.

Biodiversity stimulated by Herbivores

Regarding how the existence of herbivorous animals directly influences the plant kingdom, it has been possible to demonstrate that there is a close link between the variety of animals herbivores and the variety of plant species present in a certain area, therefore, plant biodiversity increases in the presence of a greater biodiversity of herbivores, but This phenomenon also occurs due to a greater increase in the population of some herbivore that puts the survival of the plants at risk, as occurs in the grasslands of the herds.

Bibliographic references

Salvat Library (1973). The evolution of the spices. Barcelona, ​​Spain. Salvat Editors.

Hickman, C. et al. (1998) Integral Principles of Zoology. 11th Ed. Madrid, Spain. McGraw-Hill Interamericana.

Villa, C. (1996). Biology. 8th Edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill.

ALDEZABAL, Arantza, et al. (2022) The role of herbivores in the conservation of pastures. Ecosystems, 2002, vol. 11, not 3.

GASTELUM-MENDOZA, Fernando I., et al. (2019). Herbivore diet: technique, importance and implications for wildlife management. AGROProductivity, vol. 12, no 4, p. 17-24.

GRISELDA, Pérez López, et al. Importance of genetic diversity on the chemical defense of plants and herbivore communities.