Dissertation Research: A Model for the Selection of Ambush Sites by Sit-and-Wait Predators

大多数关于动物觅食行为的研究都集中在快速、活跃的动物身上，这些动物在环境中广泛地寻找猎物。然而，许多掠食者是相对久坐不动的，并通过长时间的埋伏来捕获猎物。伏击觅食行为的研究一直被忽视，部分原因是缺乏对伏击捕食者所面临的问题的理论分析，也是因为难以在自然栖息地研究神秘，隐秘的动物。本研究将通过使用现代计算建模技术对伏击狩猎行为进行定量预测来解决这些问题。这个数学模型，然后将通过一个伏击的捕食者，已被证明是一个非常听话的主题觅食行为的研究，木材响尾蛇（响尾蛇horridus）的实地和实验室研究相结合的测试。该项目将增加我们对伏击猎物的物种所使用的觅食策略的了解，并为行为和生态学中越来越受欢迎的建模方法提供急需的实证测试。

TitleA model for the selection of ambush sites by sit-and-wait predatorsAbstractMost research on animal foraging behavior focuses on fast, active animals that search widely through the environment for their prey. However, many predators are relatively sedentary, and capture prey by waiting in ambush for long periods of time. The study of ambush foraging behavior has been neglected in part because of a lack of theoretical analysis of the problems faced by ambush predators, and also because of the difficulty in studying cryptic, secretive animals in their natural habitat. This study will address these problems by using modern computational modeling techniques to generate quantitative predictions about ambush hunting behavior. This mathematical model will then be tested through a combination of field and laboratory studies on an ambush predator that has proven to be a very tractable subject for the study of foraging behavior, the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus). This project will both increase our knowledge of foraging strategies that are used by species that ambush their prey, and also provide much-needed empirical testing of a modeling approach that is becoming increasingly popular in behavior and ecology.