Publisher's Synopsis
This book brings together articles by scientists from diverse backgrounds to review the current state of knowledge on reproductive energetics. It is in this area that the boundaries between ecology and physiology become most blurred. The reproductive success of most mammals is ultimately linked to their nutrition and hence to their environment; yet the mechanisms whereby nutrition regulates fertility and inter-birth interval, lactation, is timed to coincide with peak food supply, and clues such as change in day-length influence on seasonal breeding patterns and metabolic rates, are only just beginning to be understood.;The book also compares information gained from populations in the wild with captive animals and considers the implications for the management of agricultural production. One chapter examines a human population living in an area of limited food supply.;The book is aimed at research scientists in zoos, ecologists, reproductive biologists, physiologists and zoologists, veterinarians, and anthropologists.
