Evolutionary Games

Question 1

What are optimality models?

Answer 1

Use of mathematical models to determine optimal strategies.

Question 2

What do optimality models predict?

Answer 2

They predict which trade-off between costs and benefits will provide the maximum net benefit.

Question 3

What is optimal foraging?

Answer 3

Animals maximize the amount of energy gained per unit of feeding time.

Question 4

What does the profitability of a food item (P) depend on?

Answer 4

P depends on how much food energy the animal gets from the food (E) and the amount of time or effort spent traveling, searching, and handling food (t).

P = E/t

Question 5

What is an example of optimal foraging in shore crabs?

Answer 5

Large mussels are too difficult to open and use too much energy, while small mussels do not provide enough energy to offset the energy needed to open them.

Question 6

What does evolutionary game theory focus on?

Answer 6

It focuses on optimal strategies that depend on the behavior of other individuals.

Question 7

What are evolutionary games used for?

Answer 7

They are used to model the evolution of competitive strategies within a population.