Factors Affecting Performance in Foraging

项目编号：IBN-9816692PI: Douglass H. morse标题：影响觅食行为的因素本项目评估不同觅食经历在决定个体一生中成功后代产量中的作用。先前的研究表明，个体在选择能够获得最多猎物的狩猎地点方面的能力差异很大。幼年阶段是一个重要的经验来源，可能会影响到至关重要的成年生殖阶段的觅食努力。这项工作研究了从巢囊出来到成虫前蜕皮的时期，使用的是一种坐等捕食者，在花上捕食昆虫。已知觅食历史的蜘蛛将暴露在不同的狩猎地点（不同种类的花等），然后在熟悉的和新的基质上进行测试，以评估这种经验的延续。本研究结合了实验室和实地实验。这项工作对于开始剖析导致个体之间差异成功的因素是很重要的，重点放在一个因素上，这个因素可能是最重要的，它可以确定在一个群体中保持什么样的特征，从而推动行为的进化。所采取的行为可能决定一个物种如何有效地利用现有资源，进而影响共存物种的特征，以及生物群落的生物多样性。

Animal Behavior ProgramNontechnical AbstractProposal #: IBN-9816692PI: Douglass H. MorseTitle: Factors affecting performance in foragingThis project assesses the role of differential foraging experience in determining an individual's lifetime production of successful offspring. Previous work has shown that individuals vary greatly in their ability to choose hunting sites that provide access to the most prey. The juvenile stage is a major source of experience potentially affecting the foraging efforts of the all-important adult reproductive stage. This work examines the periods following emergence from the nest sac and preceding pre-adult molt, using the crab spider Misumena vatia, a sit-and-wait predator that hunts for insects on flowers. Spiders of known foraging history will be exposed to various hunting sites (different species of flowers, etc.), and then tested on thus-familiar and novel substrates to evaluate the carryover of such experience. Laboratory and field experiments are incorporated into the research.The work is important in commencing to dissect the factors responsible for differential success among individuals, focusing on a factor likely to be of greatest importance in establishing what traits are maintained in a population, thereby driving the evolution of behavior. The behavior adopted may determine how effectively a species can exploit available resources, in turn affecting the characteristics of coexisting species, as well as the biodiversity of biological communities.