Social information, social feeding, and competition in group-living goats (Capra hircus)
Social information, social feeding, and competition in group-living goats (Capra hircus)
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群居山羊 (Capra hircus) 的社会信息、社会喂养和竞争
DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arl057
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发表时间：
2007
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Joel s. Brown
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Adrian M. Shrader;G. Kerley;Burt P. Kotler;Joel s. Brown
两者都有好处（例如，社会信息）和成本（例如，种内竞争）的个体群体觅食。为了确定群体觅食山羊（Capra hircus）如何处理这些权衡，我们问：1）山羊使用社会信息来做出觅食决策吗？2）它们如何根据其他群体成员的吸引来调整自己的摄入率？为了确定山羊是否使用社会信息，我们记录了他们最初选择不同质量的食物补丁时，他们不知道补丁的质量，当他们可以观察到其他觅食。在确定山羊使用社会信息后，我们记录了它们单独进食和存在潜在竞争对手时的摄入率。录取率随着参赛人数的增加而增加。有趣的是，单独的山羊达到了摄入率，高于当一个竞争对手存在，但类似于当两个或更多的竞争对手存在。更快的摄入速度可能会让食草动物在竞争群体成员到达补丁之前摄入更大部分的可用食物。然而，这并不能解释当山羊独自一人时的高摄入率。我们提供了两种可能的解释：1）更快的摄入率是对孤独个体所带来的更大风险，社会信息的丢失以及被群体抛在后面的恐惧的反应; 2）当独自觅食时，摄入率不再是减少竞争和获取社会信息之间的权衡。因此，个体能够接近其最大速率进食。版权所有2007年。
There are both benefits (e.g., social information) and costs (e.g., intraspecific competition) for individuals foraging in groups. To ascertain how group-foraging goats (Capra hircus) deal with these trade-offs, we asked 1) do goats use social information to make foraging decisions and 2) how do they adjust their intake rate in light of having attracted by other group members? To establish whether goats use social information, we recorded their initial choice of different quality food patches when they were ignorant of patch quality and when they could observe others foraging. After determining that goats use social information, we recorded intake rates while they fed alone and in the presence of potential competitors. Intake rate increased as the number of competitors increased. Interestingly, lone goats achieved an intake rate that was higher than when one competitor was present but similar to when two or more competitors were present. Faster intake rates may allow herbivores to ingest a larger portion of the available food before competing group members arrive at the patch. This however, does not explain the high intake rates achieved when the goats were alone. We provide 2 potential explanations: 1) faster intake rates are a response to greater risk incurred by lone individuals, the loss of social information, and the fear of being left behind by the group and 2) when foraging alone, intake rate is no longer a trade-off between reducing competition and acquiring social information. Thus, individuals are able to feed close to their maximum rate. Copyright 2007.