Patch-Choice And Dietary Breadth Flashcards
What do the two theories constitute?
Optimal foraging methods
What is the primary principle of optimal foraging methods?
An organism will strive to consume the most energy whilst expending the least amount.
Who wrote about Patch-Choice in 1995?
Kelly
How must resources be distributed in Patch-Choice?
Heterogeneously
How are patches encountered by HG?
Randomly
At what point will a forager return to a foraged patch?
Once the depleted resources come back
What is a distinctive characteristic of the time spend moving between patches?
That it is unproductive.
What wrote about Marginal Value Theorem?
Charnev 1976
What does Marginal Value Theorem state?
That return rates will progressively diminish as a forager exploits the resources is that patch.
What will foraging in other patches encourage?
A higher yield
What is an issue about Patch Choice?
Based on assumptions.
What assumptions does Patch Choice make?
That foragers won’t encounter resources when moving between patches and that patches will be encountered at random.
Who influenced dietary breadth?
Enhen, MacArthur and Praktea
What is Dietary Breadth used to predict?
If a forager will take a resource whilst foraging
What type of environment does DB assume?
One where a forager will exploit resources as the same rate as its prey.
If a foragers prey exploits 20% of the resources in an environment in DB how frequently will a forager encounter this prey?
20% of the time.
What knowledge must a forager have to sufficiently provide according to DB?
Knowledge of the different foods available and there densities
What two periods is time spent according to DB?
Search costs and handling costs
What does search costs do?
The time spent locating a resource.
What are handling costs?
The time spent harvesting or pursuing the resource.
What does DB rely on?
A fine grained environment
What does DB rank?
The resources available in a given environment.
What does DB evaluate?
How many of the resources are worth exploiting.
What have the Ache of Paraguay been shown to do that constitutes DB?
Bypass some resources for others independent of rank.
In PC what is a patch?
A location where foraging occurs
How far can the Ache of Paraguay travel to reach a patch?
Up to 4 miles
How high does the cal/hour have to be for the Ache to change Patch?
1115cal/hour
An example of a resource in a patch that is not worth moving for, and one which is?
Palm is not worth moving but honey is.
What can these theories predict?
HG behaviour.
What advantages might PC give us when examining HG behaviour?
It allows us to see diet and foraging methods if the environmental indicators are present
What is the main issue with PC?
It is based on assumption
What is necessary for PC to be applied archaeologically?
Palaeoenvriomental indicators
What can DB predict?
If a forager will exploit a resource when encountered
What does DB rely on to be successful?
A fine grained environment
What does DB rely on to be applied archaeologically?
Complete archaeological indicators
What is the main reason DB may be better than PC archaeologically?
If the objective of the research is to learn about diet as opposed to foraging areas
