The effect of foraging parameters on the probability that a dive is successful
The effect of foraging parameters on the probability that a dive is successful
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2003.2540
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发表时间：
2003-12-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Barta, Z
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Houston, AI;McNamara, JM;Barta, Z
在本文中，我们研究了一种动物潜水获取食物的觅食决策。用潜水者在任何潜水中成功的概率作为栖息地质量的指标似乎是合理的。我们使用最优猎物选择的动态模型来证明这种对潜水成功的解释并不普遍有效。特别是，我们展示了潜水的成功与在一个环境中可以实现的总体增益率并不成正比。此外，一些环境因素可能对成功的概率有非单调的影响。例如，当到达觅食区域的旅行时间增加时，成功的概率可能先增加后降低。我们指出，同样的结论可能也适用于配偶选择，也就是说，从繁殖成功的角度来看，获得配偶的概率可能不是环境质量的一个指标。
In this paper, we investigate the foraging decisions of an animal that dives to obtain its food. It might seem reasonable to use the probability that the diver is successful in any dive as an indicator of habitat quality. We use a dynamic model of optimal prey choice to show that this interpretation of diving success is not generally valid. In particular, we show that diving success is not directly proportional to the overall rate of gain that can be achieved in an environment. Furthermore, some environmental factors can have a non-monotonic effect on the probability of success. For example, as the travel time to the foraging area increases, the probability of success may first increase and then decrease. We point out that the same conclusions are likely to apply in the context of mate choice, i.e. the probability of getting a mate may not be an indicator of the quality of the environment in terms of reproductive success.