4. Foraging

Question 1

what is the search image theory

Answer 1

As a forager increasingly encounters a particular prey, the ability to recognize the prey increases

Question 2

what are ways for animals to recognize prey easier

Answer 2

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

Question 3

which animals were used to test finding food and search image

Answer 3

blue jays pecking at cryptic moths

Question 4

what are three traditions of decision making research

Answer 4

economics, psychology, and ecology

Question 5

what does the classical optimal foraging theory assume

Answer 5

assumes that evolution has favored foraging strategies that maximize the rate of energy intake as a proxy of Darwinian fitness

Question 6

what are the assumptions in the economic models

Answer 6

rational choice, self interest, stable preference over context and time

Question 7

what is utility

Answer 7

utility is the degree of liking/preference based on expected value

Question 8

what is the equation if A is preferred to B

Answer 8

U(A) > U(B)

Question 9

what is matching law

Answer 9

Choice paradigm with concurrent schedules of positive reinforcement; Distribution of behavior/time responding is measure of choice

Question 10

what is under matching

Answer 10

failure to match (receive maximum available reward)

Question 11

what is bias

Answer 11

preference for large and immediate reward

Question 12

what is the history of optimal foraging theory

Answer 12

Mathematical models of foraging decision; MacArthur and Pianka (1966) patchy food distribution

Question 13

what are the basic models of optimal foraging theory

Answer 13

diet choice model; patch choice model; risk sensitivity model; stochastic dynamic programming; rules of thumb models

Question 14

what are deductive research tools used to explore the consequences of working under a given set of assumptions

Answer 14

foraging models

Question 15

which model is the crow and whelk associated with

Answer 15

foraging model

Question 16

what are the elements of a foraging model

Answer 16

decision assumption; currency assumption; constraints

Question 17

what is the decision assumption in the foraging model

Answer 17

which of the forager’s problems are to be analyzed

Question 18

what is the currency assumption in the foraging model

Answer 18

how are the various choices to be evaluated

Question 19

what are the constraints in the foraging model

Answer 19

what limits the animal’s feasible choices and what limits the pay-off that may be obtained

Question 20

what are extrinsic constraints

Answer 20

environmental conditions (seasons)

Question 21

what are intrinsic constraints

Answer 21

how the animal lives

Question 22

what is a sequential sampling constraint

Answer 22

typically encounter diet or patch items one at a time

Question 23

what is knowledge of environment constraint

Answer 23

complete and accurate knowledge of food types, abundance and location

Question 24

what are the steps in building an optimal diet model

Answer 24

explicit alternatives involving sequential encounters of prey items; compare fitness of the two alternative actions; specify assumptions and constraints under which animals make decisions

Question 25

what are the characteristics of a patch

Answer 25

encounter rate (rich v poor patch); patch residency; gain function

Question 26

what is patch residency

Answer 26

decision variable of time spent searching for food in patch

Question 27

what is patch gain function

Answer 27

net energy "gain", negatively accelerated function of patch depletion

Question 28

what are the steps in building an optimal patch residency model

Answer 28

explicit alternatives involving patch exploitation; currency of fitness is same as diet model; specify assumptions and constrains

Question 29

steps to testing optimal patch residency model

Answer 29

look for optimal residency time when density of patches in habitat changes or when average quality of patches changes; graphical solution

Question 30

which animal was used to test patch residency time

Answer 30

great tits

Question 31

when patch density in habitat declines or travel cost increases what should an animal do

Answer 31

forager should remain in patch and deplete them to a great extent

Question 32

when average patch quality in habitat increases what should a forager do

Answer 32

foragers should spend less time exploiting each patch and deplete them to a lesser extent

Question 33

how is risk defined

Answer 33

uncertainty of reward (loss and gain)

Question 34

what is state-dependent foraging

Answer 34

hunger states 1) equal value of items 2) item's worth decreases as animal becomes satiated 3) item's worth increase due to high risk of starvation

Question 35

what is the energy budget rule

Answer 35

forager below its energy budget should be risk prone, otherwise be risk averse; studies of operant analog of risk sensitive foraging compare V1 to F1 schedules of reinforcement

Question 36

what is Stochastic dynamic programming

Answer 36

uses a common currency of lifetime fitness; foraging decision are state-dependent; capable of modeling trade-offs between competing activities; uses a decision trajectory to model patch choices over a finite time period

Question 37

descriptive models are decision rules that reflect what

Answer 37

actual decision making mechanisms

Question 38

what are rule of thumb (ROT) models

Answer 38

simple rules that animals follow to base their choice; research shows that ROT models can approximate optimality

Question 39

what model is based on architecture of interconnected neurons

Answer 39

descriptive model

Question 40

What is the cognitive emotional forager model

Answer 40

foraging decision are the balance of emotional states experienced when confronted with foraging decision made under risk of predation

Question 41

what are the three assumptions with optimal foraging

Answer 41

forager uses knowledge of patch parameters; forager's decision are based on energy reserves; foragers decision are time-dependent in that it knows the end of the foraging time cycle

Question 42

what does energy threshold model eliminate

Answer 42

third assumption of optimal foraging