Résumé
This chapter examines the effects of structural defense traits on feeding rates of mammalian browsers. The set of structural defenses deployed by a woody plant strongly depends upon the herbivore species being targeted by those defenses. The chapter deals with structural defenses against medium-to-large savanna ungulates. First, the chapter discusses plant traits that are involved in the reduction of bite size and their related costs to the plant. Second, it discusses the traits that affect the biting rate of herbivores. The chapter also models the effects of selected plant traits and determines how these affect the two components of feeding rate (bite size and biting rate) of a virtual herbivore. It then evaluates the costs and benefits of these traits in virtual environments, with or without herbivores. This illustrates how different structural and architectural strategies affect plant–animal interactions.