Definition of "herbivory"
(ecology) The consumption of living plant tissue by animals.
Quotations
Herbivory is a paradoxical interspecific interaction. On the one hand, upward of a quarter of all species are herbivorous insects (Strong et al., 1984) and some additional fraction of the noninsect species is also herbivorous, so plant-herbivore interactions are common. On the other hand, the simple observation is that, to a first approximation, the earth is green (Hairston et al., 1960), despite the combined effect of those herbivores.
1998, Sam Scheiner, Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments, CRC Press, page 183
2009, J. Wiebe, E. Mouton, Nutria Harvest and Distribution 2008-2009 and a Survey of Nutria Herbivory Damage in Coastal Louisiana in 2009