Grazing generally describes a type of predation in which an herbivore feeds on plants (such as grasses), or more broadly on a multicellular autotrophs (such as kelp). Herbivory is a form of Predation in which an Organism, known as a herbivore, consumes principally Autotrophs ref name=Campbell>Campbell Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Grass is the common word that generally describes Monocotyledonous green Plants The family Gramineae ( Poaceae) are the "true grasses" and include An autotroph (from the Greek autos = self and trophe = nutrition is an Organism that produces complex Organic compounds from simple Kelp are large Seaweeds ( Algae) belonging to the Brown algae and classified in the order Laminariales Grazing differs from true predation because the organism being eaten is not killed, and it differs from parasitism as the two organisms do not live together, nor is the grazer necessarily so limited in what it can eat (see generalist and specialist species). Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living Organisms It refers both to a specific Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between Organisms of different Species. This article is about the biological phenomenon for other uses see Symbiosis (disambiguation The term symbiosis (from the Greek A generalist species is able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and can make use of a variety of different resources (for example a Heterotroph

The word "graze" derives from the Old English (OE) grasian, "graze", itself related to OE graes, "grass". For terrestrial animals grazing is normally distinguished from browsing in that grazing is eating grass or other low vegetation, and browsing is eating woody twigs and leaves from trees and shrubs ^[1]. In Botany, a leaf is an above-ground Plant organ specialized for Photosynthesis. A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or A shrub or Bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of Woody plant, distinguished from a Tree However, "grazing" is sometimes used to refer to both grazing and browsing.

Grazing may be associated with mammals feeding on grasslands, or more specifically livestock on a farm. Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands Grasslands (also called greenswards) are areas where the Vegetation is dominated by Grasses ( Poaceae) and other Herbaceous (non-woody Livestock is the term used to refer (singularly or plurally to a Domesticated Animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce such as Food A farm is an area of land including various structures devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food ( Produce, Grains, or Livestock However, ecologists sometimes use the word in a much broader sense, including any organism that feeds on any other without living in close association with it or ending its life by the act of feeding on it, as described above. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of ^[2] An example of a grazer that might seem counterintuitive to the everyday use of the word is a mosquito, which is not a parasite in that it does not form any lasting association with its prey, and is not a true predator in that it does not kill them by this act (although they can act as a vector for fatal diseases such as malaria). Mosquitoes are insects in the family Culicidae. They have a pair of scaled wings a pair of Halteres, a slender body and long legs In Epidemiology, a vector is an Organism that does not cause Disease itself but which transmits Infection by conveying Pathogens from Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including In this sense it is the antithesis of parasitoidism, in which an organism (typically the larval stage of a wasp) feeds on another by eating it from within. A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host Organism which it ultimately kills A larva ( Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of Animal with indirect development, undergoing Metamorphosis (for example A wasp is any Insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a Bee nor Ant. In that case, the prey is inevitably killed by successful predation, and has an intimate association with its predator, such that its premature death would also see the parasitoid die as well. Use of the term varies however, for example a marine biologist may describe herbivorous sea urchins that feed on kelp as grazers even when they consistently kill the organism by cutting the plant down at the base. Sea urchins are small globular spiny sea cat animals composing most of class Echinoidea.

Many smaller, selective herbivores follow grazers because they skim off the highest, tough growth of plants exposing tender shoots.

See also

• Commons
• Grazing rights
• Managed intensive grazing
• Overgrazing
• Pasture

References

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