Comments on “Effects of Temporal Variability in Resources on Foraging Behaviour‛

Owen-Smith (Chapter 8) describes the current state-of-the-art of the foraging models in relation to different temporal scales. He argues that the static, equilibrium approach of the traditional optimal foraging models does not seem to hold for reallife foraging studies, as trait plasticity is needed to cope with changes in foraging conditions over time. Addressing different temporal scales, from the variability on a certain day to day-to-day changes, and seasonal fluctuations of foraging conditions, it becomes clear that present-day models must be improved in order to be able to accommodate the variability in environmental conditions. Apparently, current models cannot yet fully cope with the importance of scale in foraging models. Indeed, the effects of both temporal and spatial scales on foraging behaviour need to be incorporated in the available models. An important gap is that few studies have been carried out that implicitly study the impact of these scale issues on foraging theory, let alone the hierarchy of different scales. There is an urgent need for studies that address the effect of scale on foraging behaviour.