BIOL 321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Optimal Foraging Theory, Great Tit, Bluegill
1 Aug 2017
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Document Summary
Use of search image has likely evolved as a response to the difficulty of finding cryptic prey and thus is important in assessing what is prey and what is not. Theory predicts various aspects of animal foraging behaviour within a given set of constraints. One of the most basic foraging problems faced by an animal is deciding what type of food items should be in the diet and what shouldn"t. Animal behaviourists have developed optimality models specifically designed to handle prey choice. Profitability of a prey item is defined as its energy/handling time; the greater the energy/handling ratio the greater the probability of a prey type. If the prey type with the highest profitability (prey type 1) is always taken by a forager this then means that the optimal diet boils down to 2 questions: 1. Should prey type 2 also be taken: 2.
