Grazing (behaviour)

Grazing's ecological effects can include redistributing nutrients, keeping grasslands open or favouring a particular species over another.

Many small selective herbivores follow larger grazers which skim off the highest, tough growth of grasses, exposing tender shoots.

[5] For lagomorphs (rabbits, hares, pikas), easily digestible food is processed in the gastrointestinal tract & expelled as regular feces.

[6] Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are herbivores that graze mainly on grasses and aquatic plants,[7][8] as well as fruit and tree bark.

[13] As with other rodents, the front teeth of capybara grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses.

[18] Use of the term "grazing" varies further; for example, a marine biologist may describe herbivorous sea urchins that feed on kelp as grazers, even when they kill the organism by cutting the plant at the base.

Malacologists sometimes apply the word to aquatic snails that feed by consuming the microscopic film of algae, diatoms and detritus—a biofilm—that covers the substrate and other surfaces underwater.

[citation needed] In marine ecosystems, grazing by mesograzers such as some crustaceans maintains habitat structure by preventing algal overgrowth, especially in coral reefs.

In North American tallgrass prairies, diversity and productivity are controlled to a large extent by nitrogen availability ... Nitrogen availability in prairies was driven by interactions between frequency of fires and grazing by large herbivores ... Spring fires enhance growth of certain grasses, and herbivores such as bison preferentially graze these grasses, keeping a system of checks and balances working properly, and allowing many plant species to flourish.