herbivory

English

Etymology

From herbivore +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həˈbɪvəɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɚˈbɪvəɹi/
• Hyphenation: her‧biv‧o‧ry

• Audio (US); /ˈhɝbɪˌvɔɹi/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪvəɹi

Noun

herbivory (uncountable)

1. (ecology) The consumption of living plant tissue by animals.

   Synonym: phytophagy

   • 1998, Sam Scheiner, Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 183:

     Herbivory is a paradoxical interspecific interaction. On the one hand, upward of a quarter of all species are herbivorous insects (Strong et al., 1984) and some additional fraction of the noninsect species is also herbivorous, so plant-herbivore interactions are common. On the other hand, the simple observation is that, to a first approximation, the earth is green (Hairston et al., 1960), despite the combined effect of those herbivores.

   • 2009, J. Wiebe, E. Mouton, Nutria Harvest and Distribution 2008-2009 and a Survey of Nutria Herbivory Damage in Coastal Louisiana in 2009:

Related terms

• antiherbivory
• herbivore
• herbivorous

Translations

the consumption of living plant tissue by animals

Finnish: kasvinsyönti Italian: fitofagia f Portuguese: herbivoria f