Abstract

This paper outlines as approach for identifying resources with regard to their potential for substitutability, enhancement, complementarity, inhibition or independence. The proposed methodology yields insights regarding how some omnivorous crayfish select particular plant and animal food resources (freshwater snails and leaves of macrophytes) which could lead to localized extinction of the animal prey. For many omnivores it may be that both plant and animal foods are required for optimal growth so that these types of resources are not simply interchangeable substitutes for one another. An increased quantity of plant food could lead to increased consumption of the animal prey even if the density of animal food resources did not increase. The frequency and significance of these types of positive food resource relationships require considerably more study, but some evidence is presented to demonstrate that substitutability of different foods is highly variable among individual consumers and that resource independence is a relatively common food relationship among omnivorous crayfish.

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