title: Location, time, and temperature dependence of digestion in simple animal tracts.
abstract: In this paper, we develop plug flow reactor models that simultaneously investigate how reaction and absorption, morphological differences, and temperature influence nutrient acquisition rates in simple, tubular animal guts. We present analytical solutions to the resulting reaction-advection equations that model these processes, and we obtain formulas giving the throughflow speed that maximizes the absorption rate. The model predicts that the optimal digestion speed increases as the ratio of the rate of enzyme breakdown to the rate of absorption increases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0323, USA.
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joern
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wolesensky
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D000818:Animals; D004063:Digestion / Q000502:physiology*; D004068:Digestive System Physiological Phenomena; D004435:Eating; D005772:Gastrointestinal Transit; D008954:Models, Biological; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors