Measuring Patch Assessment Abilities of Desert Granivores
Measuring Patch Assessment Abilities of Desert Granivores
复制标题
测量沙漠食粒动物的斑块评估能力
DOI：
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发表时间：
1989
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Joel s. Brown
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
T. Valone;Joel s. Brown
We develop two criteria for measuring patch assessment ability. First, we examine the ability of foragers to equalize benefits and costs at manipulated resource patches. Second, we compare patch utilization patterns of four possible foraging strategies (prescient, fixed time, Bayesian, and rate assessor) with actual foraging patterns. Experi- ments with several desert rodent and avian species suggest that Merriam's kangaroo rat may obtain the best estimate of patch quality, followed by the round-tail ground squirrel and Arizona pocket mouse. Kangaroo rats exhibited both a prescient and Bayesian strategy. Pocket mice and ground squirrels exhibited both a fixed-time and Bayesian strategy. Gam- bel's Quail appeared to be the least sophisticated forager and exhibited only a fixed-time strategy. The fixed-time strategy was observed most frequently in the low variance environment where patch differences were relatively minor. In general, increased patch variation led to poorer patch estimates but allowed employment of sophisticated foraging strategies. Avian group foragers did not obtain better estimates of patch quality than solitary foragers.
