Journal Article10.1146/ANNUREV.ES.15.110184.002515
Optimal Foraging Theory: A Critical Review
2.1K
TL;DR: It follows that the proportion of individuals in a population foraging in ways that enhance their fitness will tend to increase over time, and the average foraging behavior will increasingly come to be characterized by those characteristics that enhance individual fitness.
read more
Abstract: Proponents of optimal foraging theory attempt to predict the behavior of animals while they are foraging; this theory is based on a number of assump tions ( 133 , 155 , 2 10, 23 1 ) . First, an individual's contribution to the next generation (i.e. its "fitness") depends on its behavior while foraging. This contribution may be measured genetically or culturally as the proportion of an individual's genes or "ideas", respectively, in the next generation. In the former case, the theory is simply an extension of Darwin's theory of evolution. Second, it is assumed that there should be a heritable component of foraging behavior, i.e. an animal that forages in a particular manner should be likely to have offspring that tend to forage in the same manner. This heritable compo nent can be either the actual foraging responses made by an animal or the rules by which an animal learns to make such responses. In other words, optimal foraging theory may apply regardless of whether the foraging behavior is learned or innate. Given these first two assumptions, it follows that the proportion of individuals in a population foraging in ways that enhance their fitness will tend to increase over time. Unless countervailed by sufficiently strong group selection (see 287, 242), foraging behavior will therefore evolve, and the average foraging behavior will increasingly come to be characterized by those characteristics that enhance individual fitness. The third assumption is that the relationship between foraging behavior and fitness is known. This relationship is usually referred to as the currency of fitness (23 1 ) . In general, any such currency will include a time scale, although in some cases it may be assumed that fitness is a function of some rate.
read more
Chat with Paper
AI Agents for this Paper
Find similar papers on Google Scholar, PubMed and Arxiv
Write a critical review of this paper
Analyze citations of this paper to find unaddressed research gaps
Citations
Observations on a foraging association between two freshwater stream fishes
John A. Baker,S. A. Foster +1 more
TL;DR: Small groups of a typically run- and pool-dwelling minnow (blacktail shiner) were observed feeding in a shallow riffle on items dislodged by foraging northern hog suckers during summer 1977, and this feeding strategy may be an important mechanism of food acquisition for some individuals when usual resources are scarce.
16
Aversive Learning in the Praying Mantis (Tenodera aridifolia), a Sit and Wait Predator
TL;DR: It is found that the bitter bees were totally rejected after an attack whereas bitter mealworms were partially eaten, highlighting the fact that the mantises might maintain a selection pressure on bees, and perhaps on aposematic species in general.
Biogeography of bird and mammal trophic structures
Manuel Mendoza,Miguel B. Araújo +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper , a limited number of community trophic structures emerge when co-occurrence of trophicity guilds among large mammals is examined globally, and whether the pattern is general across all terrestrial mammals and birds.
Biological time value
TL;DR: The discount rate is shown to be equal to the average (standard) metabolic rate for the species at a steady-state condition and the connection of the discount rate to standard empirical measures allows it to be assigned a numerical value.
16
A test for phylogenetic constraints on behavioral adaptation in a spider system
TL;DR: Preliminary results suggest that phylogenetic constraints do not appear to underlie the observed maladaptive behavior of the AZ riparian population and credibility is given to potential gene flow influences.
16
References
The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors criticise the adaptationist program for its inability to distinguish current utility from reasons for origin (male tyrannosaurs may have used their diminutive front legs to titillate female partners, but this will not explain why they got so small).
The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme
Stephen Jay Gould,Richard C Lewontin,Eliot Sober,Cambridge Mit Press +3 more
- 01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: The adaptationist programme is faulted for its failure to distinguish current utility from reasons for origin, and Darwin’s own pluralistic approach to identifying the agents of evolutionary change is supported.
5.9K
Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem.
TL;DR: This paper will develop a model for the use of a “patchy habitat” by an optimal predator and depresses the availability of food to itself so that the amount of food gained for time spent in a patch of type i is hi(T), where the function rises to an asymptote.
5.3K
On Optimal Use of a Patchy Environment
TL;DR: A graphical method is discussed which allows a specification of the optimal diet of a predator in terms of the net amount of energy gained from a capture of prey as compared to the energy expended in searching for the prey.
4.6K
The nutritional ecology of immature insects
and J M Scriber,F Slansky +1 more
TL;DR: The importance of food quality relative to other environmental factors and organism adaptations that influence post-inges tive food utilization and growth performance of immature arthropods is assessed.
1.8K