BIOB32H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Cecum, Respiratory Quotient, Cockroach
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Seeds, whole vertebrates, fruit, insects, vegetation, and detritus are low quality foods because they have molecules that are hard to break down like cellulose, chitin, xylans, & lignin. If foods a(cid:396)e high (cid:395)ualit(cid:455) a(cid:374)d the(cid:396)efo(cid:396)e (cid:396)elati(cid:448)el(cid:455) eas(cid:455) to digest, (cid:455)ou"(cid:396)e a(cid:271)le to use (cid:373)ost of the (cid:373)ole(cid:272)ules the(cid:455) contain. From an animals perspective, high quality foods are easy to digest, and you can use most of their molecules as an energy source. Foods that are low quality are hard to digest, and you can only use a smaller proportion of the molecules that they contain as an energy source. You would think animals would eat high quality foods but the problem is plant vegetation is the most abundant food on. Earth and cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on earth: quality vs. quantity, plant vegetation high quantity but low quality, animals choose quantity over quality.