4. Foraging Flashcards
what is the search image theory
As a forager increasingly encounters a particular prey, the ability to recognize the prey increases
what are ways for animals to recognize prey easier
Development of mental/sensory representation of prey; Response to cryptic prey; Search image may be linked to salient feature of prey or representation of entire prey item; new prey items is ignored until it becomes more prevalent
which animals were used to test finding food and search image
blue jays pecking at cryptic moths
what are three traditions of decision making research
economics, psychology, and ecology
what does the classical optimal foraging theory assume
assumes that evolution has favored foraging strategies that maximize the rate of energy intake as a proxy of Darwinian fitness
what are the assumptions in the economic models
rational choice, self interest, stable preference over context and time
what is utility
utility is the degree of liking/preference based on expected value
what is the equation if A is preferred to B
U(A) > U(B)
what is matching law
Choice paradigm with concurrent schedules of positive reinforcement; Distribution of behavior/time responding is measure of choice
what is under matching
failure to match (receive maximum available reward)
what is bias
preference for large and immediate reward
what is the history of optimal foraging theory
Mathematical models of foraging decision; MacArthur and Pianka (1966) patchy food distribution
what are the basic models of optimal foraging theory
diet choice model; patch choice model; risk sensitivity model; stochastic dynamic programming; rules of thumb models
what are deductive research tools used to explore the consequences of working under a given set of assumptions
foraging models
which model is the crow and whelk associated with
foraging model
what are the elements of a foraging model
decision assumption; currency assumption; constraints