The nature of nutrition: a unifying framework

Simpson, Stephen J.; Raubenheimer, David

doi:10.1071/zo11068

Cited by 88 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 179 publications

(192 reference statements)

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“…While much is known about insect nutrition and foraging in general, micronutrient (both vitamin and mineral) requirements remain poorly understood (Cohen, ), even with the recent decline in pollinator populations. Micronutrients are a physiologically important part of any organism's complex diet (Simpson & Raubenheimer, , ; Rupp, ) and should be studied for a more complete understanding of the complex balancing act faced by organisms when foraging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Bonoan

Tai

Rodriguez

et al. 2016

Ecological Entomology

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1. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) prefer foraging at compound‐rich, ‘dirty’, water sources over clean water sources. As a honey bee's main floral diet only contains trace amounts of micronutrients – likely not enough to sustain an entire colony – it was hypothesised that honey bees forage in dirty water for physiologically essential minerals that their floral diet, and thus the colony, may lack. 2. While there are many studies regarding macronutrient requirements of honey bees, few investigate micronutrient needs. For this study, from 2013 to 2015, a series of preference assays were conducted in both summer and autumn. 3. During all field seasons, honey bees exhibited a strong preference for sodium in comparison to deionised water. There was, however, a notable switch in preferences for other minerals between seasons. 4. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium – three minerals most commonly found in pollen – were preferred in autumn when pollen was scarce, but were avoided in summer when pollen was abundant. Thus, as floral resources change in distribution and abundance, honey bees similarly change their water‐foraging preferences. 5. Our data suggest that, although they are generalists with relatively few gustatory receptor genes, honey bee foragers are fine‐tuned to search for micronutrients. This ability likely helps the foragers in their search for a balanced diet for the colony as a whole.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Bonoan

Tai

Rodriguez

et al. 2016

Ecological Entomology

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“…Evolutionary processes have ensured that animals are able to deal with these complexities and can regulate their nutrient intake to satisfy a range of nutritional requirements when presented with an array of possible nutrient sources (Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2011). However, these complex interactions and changing feeding behaviour are difficult to assess experimentally (Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The nutrient space is built from two or more axes, each axis representing a food component or nutrient. Food substances are represented as co-ordinates in the nutrient space, defining the available nutrients of the food (Raubenheimer and Simpson, 2006;Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2011). Ideally, a single food would be nutritionally balanced and would meet all of the animals' nutrient requirements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional geometry of calcium and phosphorus nutrition in broiler chicks. Growth performance, skeletal health and intake arrays

Bradbury

Wilkinson

Cronin

et al. 2014

animal

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The interaction between calcium (Ca) and non-phytate phosphorus (nPP) in broiler nutrition and skeletal health is highly complex with many factors influencing their digestion, absorption and utilisation. The use of an investigative model such as the geometric framework allows a graphical approach to explore these complex interactions. A total of 600 Ross 308-day-old male broiler chicks were allocated to one of 15 dietary treatments with five replicates and eight birds per replicate. Dietary treatments were formulated to one of three total densities of total Ca + nPP; high (15 g/kg), medium (13.5 g/kg) and low (12 g/kg) and at each density there were five different ratios of Ca : nPP (4, 2.75, 2.1, 1.5 and 1.14 : 1). Weekly performance data was collected and at the end of the experiment birds were individually weighed and the right leg removed for tibia ash analysis. Skeletal health was assessed using the latency to lie (LTL) at day 27. At low Ca and high nPP as well as high Ca and low nPP diets, birds had reduced feed intake, BW gain, poorer feed efficiency and lower tibia ash, resulting in a significant interaction between dietary Ca and nPP (P < 0.05). LTL times were negatively influenced by diets having either a broad ratio (high Ca, low nPP) or too narrow a ratio (low Ca, high nPP) indicating that shorter LTL times may be influenced by the ratio of Ca : nPP rather than absolute concentrations of either mineral. The calculated intake arrays show that broilers more closely regulate Ca intake than nPP intake. Broilers are willing to over consume nPP to defend a Ca intake target more so than they are willing to over consume Ca to defend an nPP target. Overall dietary nPP was more influential on performance metrics, however, from the data it may appear that birds prioritise Ca intake over nPP and broadly ate to meet this requirement. As broilers are more willing to eat to a Ca intake target rather than an nPP intake target, this emphasises the importance of formulating diets to a accurately balanced density of Ca : nPP considering the biological importance of both minerals.

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“…To better understand complex interactions such as those of Ca and P in poultry nutrition, it is necessary to use models that can assess several factors at once. The geometric framework graphically models outcomes in a geometric space that is fashioned by two or more axes that represent either nutritional, environmental or other variables that contribute to the fitness of the animal (Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2011). By graphing data as contour plots, conclusions may be visually assessed and more easily interpreted when compared with tabulated results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional geometry of calcium and phosphorus nutrition in broiler chicks. The effect of different dietary calcium and phosphorus concentrations and ratios on nutrient digestibility

Wilkinson

Bradbury

Thomson

et al. 2014

animal

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A total of 600 Ross 308-day-old male broiler chicks were used in a 28 day digestibility study to investigate the interaction between dietary calcium (Ca) and non-phytate phosphorus (nPP) on the digestibility of minerals and amino acids. Diets were formulated to be nutritionally adequate except for Ca and nPP. Fifteen mash diets based on corn and soya bean meal with varying concentrations of Ca (6.4 to 12.0 g/kg) and nPP (2.4 to 7.0 g/kg) were used. Diets were clustered around total densities of Ca and nPP of 12, 13.5 or 15.0 (g/kg) and within each density, a range of five Ca : nPP ratios (1.14 : 1, 1.5 : 1, 2.0 : 1, 2.75 : 1 and 4.0 : 1) were fed. Birds had free access to feed and water throughout the study. At day 28, birds were euthanised for the determination of apparent ileal mineral and amino acid digestibility. Data were modelled in R version 2.15 using a linear mixed-effects model and interrogation of the data was performed by fitting a low order polynomial function. At high Ca concentrations, increasing nPP led to an increase in the apparent digestibility of minerals. Apparent ileal digestibility of phosphorus (P) was enhanced with increasing dietary nPP up to 5.5 g/kg beyond which no improvements were found. Maximal Ca digestibility was found in diets with > 8.0 g/kg Ca with concomitant low concentrations of nPP. Diets with a broader Ca : nPP ratio improved the digestibility of Ca but were deleterious to the digestibility of P. In this study, apparent digestibility of amino acids was broadly unaffected by dietary Ca and nPP concentrations. However, interactions between Ca and nPP were observed for the digestibility of glutamine, tyrosine and methionine (all P < 0.001). Nitrogen digestibility showed discrete optima around 10.0 and 5.0 g/kg nPP and Na digestibility was maximised around 8 to 9.0 g/kg Ca and 4.5 to 5.4 g/kg nPP. These data show that the ratio of Ca : nPP is more influential to mineral digestibility than the absolute dietary concentration of each macro mineral.

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The nature of nutrition: a unifying framework

Cited by 88 publications

References 179 publications

Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Seasonality of salt foraging in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Nutritional geometry of calcium and phosphorus nutrition in broiler chicks. Growth performance, skeletal health and intake arrays

Nutritional geometry of calcium and phosphorus nutrition in broiler chicks. The effect of different dietary calcium and phosphorus concentrations and ratios on nutrient digestibility

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