Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Brief History of Optimal Foraging Ecology

  • Chapter
Foraging Behavior

Abstract

Optimal foraging ecology began in 1966 with the back-to-back publication in American Naturalist of two papers, one by MacArthur and Pianka, the other by Emlen. Although different in detail, the papers were collectively unique in their proposal that prey selectivity could be understood as driven by a tendency, selected through evolution, to maximize net energy gained per unit time feeding. The temporal coincidence of the two papers suggests that the ecological world was as ready to receive this proposal as to invent it. Indeed, in the 20 years since, hundreds of papers mentioning optimal foraging have been published—like other areas of science (Price 1963) and ecology (Schoener 1974a, 1983a), optimal foraging enjoyed an exponential growth phase which is only now beginning to inflect (Pyke 1984, and below).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abrams, P.A. 1982. Functional responses of optimal foragers. American Naturalist, 120: 382–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allee, W.C., Emerson, A.E., Park, O., Park, T., and Schmidt, K.P. 1949. Principles of Animal Ecology. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, M. 1978. Optimal foraging area: size and allocation of search effort. Theoretical Population Biology, 13: 397–409.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, M. 1981. Central place foraging in the whinchat, Saxicola rubetra. Ecology, 62: 538–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckner, M. 1974. Reduction, hierarchies and organicism. In: Studies in the Philosophy of Biology: Reduction and Related Problems (ed. by: F.J. Ayala & T. Dobzhansky ), pp. 163–177. University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky, G.E. 1978. Diet optimization in a generalist herbivore, the moose. Theoretical Population Biology, 14: 105–134.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky, G.E. 1981. Food plant selection by a generalist herbivore: the moose. Ecology, 62: 1020–1030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky, G.E. 1984a. Herbivore optimal foraging: a comparative test of three models. American Naturalist, 124: 97–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky, G.E. 1984b. Moose and snowshoe hare competition and a mechanistic explanation from foraging theory. Oecologia, 61: 150–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bettinger, R.L. 1980. Explanatory/predictive models of hunter-gatherer adaptation. Advances in Archeological Method and Theory, 3: 189–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, R., and Richerson, P.J. 1985. Culture and the Evolutionary Process. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breck, J.E. 1978. Suboptimal Foraging Strategies for a Patchy Environment. Dissertation. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, S.M., and Bence, J.R. 1984. A diet model for planktivores that follow density-dependent rules for prey selection. Ecology, 65: 1885–1894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caraco, T. 1980. On foraging time allocation in a stochastic environment. Ecology, 61: 119–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caraco, T. 1981. Energy budgets, risk, and foraging preferences in dark-eyed juncos. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 8: 213–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caraco, T., Martindale, S., and Whittam, T.S. 1980. An empirical demonstration of risk-sensitive foraging preferences. Animal Behaviour, 28: 820–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnov, E.L. 1973. Optimal Foraging: Some Theoretical Explorations. Dissertation. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charnov, E.L. 1976a. Optimal foraging: attack strategy of a mantid. American Naturalist, 110: 141–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnov, E.L. 1976b. Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem. Theoretical Population Biology, 9: 129–136.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Charnov, E.L., and Orians, G.H. 1973. Optimal Foraging: Some Theoretical Explorations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, G.L. 1954. Elements of Ecology. Wiley, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody, M.L. 1971. Finch flocks in the Mohave Desert. Theoretical Population Biology, 2: 142–158.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colinvaux, P.A. 1973. Introduction to Ecology. Wiley, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collier, G.H., and Rovee-Collier, C.K. 1981. A comparative analysis of optimal foraging behavior: laboratory simulations. In: Foraging Behavior: Ecological, Ethological, and Psychological Approaches (ed. by: A.C. Kamil & T.D. Sargent ), pp. 39–76. Garland, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Covich, A. 1972. Ecological economics of seed consumption by Peromyscus: a graphical model of resource substitution. Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 44: 69–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, R.B., DeAngelis, D.L., and Dixon, K.R. 1979. Long- and short-term dynamic optimization models with application to the feeding strategy of the Loggerhead Shrike. American Naturalist, 113: 31–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curio, E. 1976. The Ethology of Predation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, E.R. 1935. The survival value of specific characters. Copeia, 1935: 85–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durham, W.H. 1981. Overview: optimal foraging analysis in human ecology. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhaider & E.A. Smith ), pp. 218–231. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ebersole, J.P. 1980. Food density and territory size: an alternative model and a test on the reef fish Eupomacentrus leucostictus. American Naturalist, 115: 492–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eggers, D.M. 1982. Planktivore preference by prey size. Ecology, 63: 381–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elton, C. 1927. Animal Ecology. Sidgwick and Jackson, London, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen, J.M. 1966. The role of time and energy in food preference. American Naturalist, 100: 611–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emlen, J.M. 1968. Optimal choice in animals. American Naturalist, 101: 385–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emlen, J.M. 1973. Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Addison Wesley Company, Reading, Massachusetts, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engen, S., and Stenseth, N.C. 1984. A general version of optimal foraging theory: the effect of simultaneous encounters. Theoretical Population Biology, 26: 192–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estabrook, G.F., and Dunham, A.E. 1976. Optimal diet as a function of absolute abundance, relative abundance, and relative value of available prey. American Naturalist, 110: 401–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fantino, E., and Abarca, N. 1985. Choice, optimal foraging, and the delay-reduction hypothesis. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8: 315–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeland, W.J., and Janzen, D.H. 1974. Strategies in herbivory by mammals: the role of plant secondary compounds. American Naturalist, 108: 269–289.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, R.S., and Morse, D.H. 1985. Reproductive success and foraging of the crab spider Misumena vatia. Oecologia, 65: 194–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Futuyma, D.J. 1983. Evolutionary interactions among herbivorous insects and plants. In: Coevolution, (ed. by: D.J. Futuyma & M. Slatkin ), pp. 207–231. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, M.B. 1981. Mechanisms of size selectivity by planktivorous fish: a test of hypotheses. Ecology, 62: 571–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, R.M. 1980. Optimal prey-size selection by three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus): a test of the apparent-size hypothesis. Zeitschrift fur Tierpsycholgie, 52: 291–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilliam, J.F., Green, R.E., and Pearson, N.E. 1982. The fallacy of the traffic policeman: a response to Templeton and Lawlor. American Naturalist, 119: 875–878.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S.J., and Lewontin, R.C. 1979. The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 205: 581–598.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Green, R.F. 1980. Bayesian birds: a simple example of Oaten’s stochastic model of optimal foraging. Theoretical Population Biology, 18: 244–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, W.J. Ill, and Watt, K.E.F. 1970. Refuging. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1: 263–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, W.J. III, Gilbert, W.M., Heppner, F.H., and Planck, R.J. 1967. Starling roost dispersal and a hypothetical mechanism regulating rhythmical animal movement to and from dispersal centers. Ecology, 48: 825–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, G. 1956. Meaninglessness of the word protoplasm. Scientific Monthly, 82: 112–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K., Hill, K., and O’Connell, J.F. 1982. Why hunters gather: optimal foraging and the AchÂŁ of eastern Paraguay. American Ethnologist, 9: 379–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heller, R. 1980. On optimal diet in a patchy environment. Theoretical Population Biology, 17: 201–214.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Herrnstein, R.J. 1974. Formal properties of the matching law. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 21: 159–164.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hixon, M.A. 1980. Food production and competitor density as the determinants of feeding territory size. American Naturalist, 115: 510–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holt, R.D. 1983. Optimal foraging and the form of the predator isocline. American Naturalist, 122: 521–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huey, R.B., and Pianka, E.R. 1981. Ecological consequences of foraging mode. Ecology, 62: 991–999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, R.N. 1979. Optimal diets under the energy maximization premise: the effects of recognition time and learning. American Naturalist, 113: 209–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ivlev, V.S. 1961. Experimental Ecology of the Feeding of Fishes. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iwasa, Y., Higashi, M., and Yanamura, N. 1981. Prey distribution as a factor determining the choice of optimal foraging strategy. American Naturalist, 117: 710–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janetos, A.C. 1982. Active foragers vs. sit-and-wait predators: a simple model. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 95: 381–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janetos, A.C., and Cole, B.J. 1981. Imperfectly optimal animals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 9: 203–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, J. 1983. How do bluegills “select” large Daphnia in turbid water? Ecology, 64: 403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, S.H. 1978. Food selection by beavers: sampling behavior. Breviora Museum of Comparative Zoology, 447: 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, S.H. 1980. A size-distance relation in food selection by beavers. Ecology, 61: 740–746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamil, A.C., and Sargent, T.D. 1981. Foraging Behavior: Ecological, Ethological, and Psychological Approaches. Garland, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamil, A.C., and Yoerg, S.J, 1982. Learning and foraging behavior. In: Perspectives in Ethology, Volume 5 (ed. by: P.P.G. Bateson & P.H. Klopfer ), pp. 325–364. Plenum Press, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, P.L. 1974. A long-term approach to foraging optimization. American Naturalist, 108: 758–782.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keene, A.S. 1981. Optimal foraging in a nonmarginal environment: a model of prehistoric subsistence strategies in Michigan. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhaider & E.A. Smith ), pp. 171 - 193. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, D.E. 1970. Optimal Control Theory. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, C.J. 1972. Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, C.J. 1978. Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. Second edition. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, C.J. 1985. Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. Third edition. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R., Erichsen, J.T., Webber, J.I., and Charnov, E.L. 1977. Optimal prey selection in the great tit (Parus major). Animal Behaviour, 25: 30–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R., Kacelnik, A., and Taylor, P. 1978. Test of optimal sampling by foraging great tits. Nature, 275: 27–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R., Ryan, J.C., and Charnov, E.L. 1974. Hunting by expectation or optimal foraging? A study of patch use by chickadees. Animal Behaviour, 22: 953–964.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R., Stephens, D.W., and Sutherland, W.J. 1983. Perspectives in optimal foraging. In: Perspectives in Ornithology: Essays Presented for the Centennial of the American Ornithologists’ Union (ed. by: A.H. Bush & G.A. Clark, Jr.), pp. 165–221. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T.S. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Second edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lam, R.K., and Frost, B.W. 1976. Model of copepod filtering response to changes in size and concentration of food. Limnology and Oceanography, 21: 490–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lea, S.E.G. 1979. Foraging and reinforcement schedules in the pigeon— optimal and non-optimal aspects of choice. Animal Behaviour, 27: 875–886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehman, J.T. 1976. The filter-feeder as an optimal forager, and the predicted shapes of feeding curves. Limnology and Oceanography, 21: 501–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lessells, C.M., and Stephens, D.W. 1983. Central place foraging—single prey loaders again. Animal Behaviour, 31: 238–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin, R.C. 1979. Fitness, survival and optimality. In: Analysis of Ecological Systems (ed. by: D.H. Horn, R. Mitchell & G.R. Stairs ), pp. 3–21. Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, K.T., Wetterer, J.K., and Hairston, Jr., N.G. 1985. Fish size, visual resolution, and prey selectivity. Ecology, 66: 1729–1735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima, S.L. 1985. Maximizing feeding efficiency and minimizing time exposed to predators: a trade-off in the black-capped chickadee. Oecologia, 66: 60–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losch, A. 1963. The Economics of Location. Translated from German. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, R.H. 1972. Geographical Ecology: Patterns in the Distribution of Species. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, R.H., and Pianka, E.R. 1966. On optimal use of a patchy environment. American Naturalist, 100: 603–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur, R.H., and Wilson, E.O. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macfadyen, A. 1957. Animal Ecology: Aims and Methods. Pitman, London, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macfadyen, A. 1963. Animal Ecology: Aims and Methods. Second edition. Pitman, London, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith, J. 1974. Models in Ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith, J. 1978. Optimization theory in evolution. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 9: 31–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAtee, W.L. 1932. Effectiveness in nature of the so-called protective adaptations in the Animal Kingdom, chiefly as illustrated by the food habits of Nearctic birds. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, 85: 1–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNair, J.N. 1979. A generalized model of optimal diets. Theoretical Population Biology, 15: 159–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNair, J.N. 1981. A stochastic foraging model with predator training effects. II. Optimal diets. Theoretical Population Biology, 19: 147–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNair, J.N. 1982. Optimal giving-up times and the marginal value theorem. American Naturalist, 119: 511–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton, S.J., and Wolf, L.L. 1973. General Ecology. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton, S.J., and Wolf, L.L. 1979. General Ecology. Second edition. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mellgren, R.L., Misasi, L., and Brown, S.W. 1984. Optimal foraging theory: prey density and travel requirements in Rattus norvegicus. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 98: 142–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagy, K.A., Huey, R.B., and Bennett, A.F. 1984. Field energetics and foraging mode of Kalahari lacertid lizards. Ecology, 65: 588–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norberg, R.A. 1977. An ecological theory on foraging time and energetics and choice of optimal food-searching method. Journal of Animal Ecology, 46: 511–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norberg, R.A. 1983. Optimal locomotion modes of foraging birds in trees. Ibis, 125: 172–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oaten, A. 1977. Optimal foraging in patches: a case for stochasticity. Theoretical Population Biology, 12: 263–285.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, W.J., Slade, N.A., and Vinyard, G.L. 1976. Apparent size as the determinant of prey selection by bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Ecology, 57: 1304–1310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell, J.F., and Hawkes, K. 1981. Alyawara plant use and optimal foraging theory. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhaider & E.A. Smith ), pp. 99–125. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell, J.F., and Hawkes, K. 1984. Food choice and foraging sites among the Alyawara. Journal of Anthropological Research, 40: 504–535.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, E.P. 1953. Fundamentals of Ecology. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, E.P. 1959. Fundamentals of Ecology. Second edition. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, E.P. 1971. Fundamentals of Ecology. Third edition. Saunders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ollason, J.G. 1980. Learning to forage—optimally? Theoretical Population Biology, 18: 44–56.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Orians, G.H. 1966. Food of nestling yellow-headed blackbirds, Cariboo Parklands, British Columbia. Condor, 68: 321–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orians, G.H. 1981. Foraging behavior and the evolution of discriminatory abilities. In: Foraging Behavior: Ecological, Ethological, and Psychological Approaches (ed. by: A.C. Kamil & T.D. Sargent ), pp. 389–405. Garland, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orians, G.H., and Pearson, N.E. 1979. On the theory of central place foraging. In: Analysis of Ecological Systems (ed. by: D.J. Horn, G.R. Stairs & R.D. Mitchell ), pp. 155–177. Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen-Smith, N., and Novellie, P. 1982. What should a clever ungulate eat? American Naturalist, 119: 151 - 178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, N.E. 1974. Optimal Foraging Theory. Quantitative Science Paper Number 39. Center for Quantitative Science in Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlman, S.M. 1976. Optimum Diet Models and Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherings: A Test on Martha’s Vineyard. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka, E.R. 1966. Convexity, desert lizards and spatial heterogeneity. Ecology, 47: 1055–1059.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pianka, E.R. 1974. Evolutionary Ecology. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pianka, E.R. 1983. Evolutionary Ecology. Third edition. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, W.P., and Gates, D.M. 1969. Thermodynamic equilibria of animals with environment. Ecological Monographs, 39: 227–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, D.J. de Solla. 1963. Little Science, Big Science. Columbia University Press, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, M.V. 1986. Structure of desert rodent communities: a critical review of questions and approaches. American Zoologist, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam, H.R. 1974. On the theory of optimal diets. American Naturalist, 108: 59–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam, H.R. 1975. Diet optimization with nutrient constraints. American Naturalist, 109: 765–768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam, H.R. 1981. Learning for forage optimally. In: Foraging Behavior Ecological, Ethological, and Psychological Approaches (ed. by: A.C. Kamil & T.D. Sargent ), pp. 379–388. Garland, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam, H.R. 1986. Niche expansion and contraction in a variable environment. American Zoologist, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1978a. Optimal foraging: movement patterns of bumblebees between inforescences. Theoretical Population Biology, 13: 72–97.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1978b. Are animals efficient harvesters? Animal Behaviour, 26: 241–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1978c. Optimal foraging in hummingbirds: testing the marginal value theorem. American Zoologist, 18: 739–752.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1979. The economics of territory size and time budget in the golden-winged sunbird. American Naturalist, 114: 131–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1980. Optimal foraging in bumblebees: calculation of net rate of energy intake and optimal patch choice. Theoretical Population Biology, 17: 232–246.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1981. Optimal foraging in hummingbirds: rule of movement between inforescences. Animal Behaviour, 29: 889–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1982. Foraging in bumblebees: rule of departure from an inforescence. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 60: 417–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H. 1984. Optimal foraging theory: a critical review. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 15: 523–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyke, G.H., Pulliam, H.R., and Charnov, E.L. 1977. Optimal foraging: a selective review of theory and tests. Quarterly Review of Biology, 52: 137–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J.F., and Dunham, A.E. 1983. On hypothesis testing in ecology and evolution. American Naturalist, 122: 602–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapport, D.J. 1971. An optimization model of food selection. American Naturalist, 105: 575–588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapport, D.J. 1980. Optimal foraging for complementary resources. American Naturalist, 116: 324–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapport, D.J., and Turner, J.E. 1977. Economic models in ecology. Science, 195: 367–373.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Real, L. 1980. Fitness, uncertainty, and the role of diversification in evolution and behavior. American Naturalist, 115: 623–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Real, L. 1981. Uncertainty and pollinator-plant interactions: the foraging behavior of bees and wasps on artificial flowers. Ecology, 62: 20–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reidhead, V.A. 1976. Optimization and Food Procurement at the Prehistoric Leonard Haag Site, Southeast Indiana: A Linear Programming Approach. Dissertation. Indiana University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs, R.E. 1973. Ecology. Chiron, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricklefs, R.E. 1979. Ecology, Second edition. Chiron, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Royama, T. 1970. Factors governing the hunting behavior and selection of food by the great tit (Parus major L). Journal of Animal Ecology, 39: 619–668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozin, Paul. 1969. Adaptive food sampling patterns in vitamin deficient rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1: 126–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1969a. Models of optimal size for solitary predators. American Naturalist, 103: 277–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1969b. Optimal size and specialization in constant and fluctuating environments: an energy-time approach. Brookhaven Symposium in Biology, 22: 103–114.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1971. Theory of feeding strategies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 11: 369–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1972. Mathematical ecology and its place among the sciences. Science, 178: 389–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1974a. Resource partitioning in ecological communities. Science, 185: 27–39.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1974b. The compression hypothesis and temporal resource partitioning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 71: 4169–4172.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1979. Generality of the size-distance relation in models of optimal feeding. American Naturalist, 114: 902–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1983a. Overview. In: Lizard Ecology (ed. by: R.B. Huey, E.R. Pianka & T.W. Schoener ), pp. 233 - 240. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1983b. Simple models of optimal feeding-territory size: a reconciliation. American Naturalist, 121: 608–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W. 1986. Mechanistic approaches to community ecology: a new reductionism? American Zoologist, 26: 81–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoener, T.W., Huey, R.B., and Pianka, E.R. 1979. A biogeographic extension of the compression hypothesis: competitors in narrow sympatry. American Naturalist, 113: 295–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sih, A. 1979. Optimal diet: the relative importance of the parameters. American Naturalist, 113: 460–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sih, A. 1980. Optimal behavior: can foragers balance two conflicting demands? Science, 210: 1041–1043.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sih, A. 1984. Optimal behavior and density-dependent predation. American Naturalist, 123: 314–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E.A. 1978. Optimal Foraging Theory and the Study of Human Hunter-gatherers. Paper presented at the 77th American Anthropological Association Meeting, Los Angeles, California, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E.A. 1981. The application of optimal foraging theory to the analysis of hunter-gatherer group size. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhaider & E.A. Smith ), pp. 36–65. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E.A., and Winterhaider, B. 1981. New perspectives on hunger-gatherer socioecology. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhaider & E.A. Smith ), pp. 1–12. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J.N.M., and Sweatman, H.P.A. 1974. Food-searching behavior of titmice in patchy environments. Ecology, 55: 1216–1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R.L. 1966. Ecology and Field Biology. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R.L. 1974. Ecology and Field Biology. Second edition. Harper and Row, New York, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stenseth, N.C., and Hansson, L. 1979. Optimal food selection: a graphic model. American Naturalist, 113: 373–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart-Oaten, A. 1982. Minimax strategies for a predator-prey game. Theoretical Population Biology, 22: 410–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stinson, C.H. 1980. Flocking and predator avoidance: models of flocking and observations on the spatial dispersion of foraging winter shore-birds (Charadrii). Oikos, 34: 35–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taghon, G.L. 1981. Beyond selection: optimal ingestion rate as a function of food value. American Naturalist, 118: 202–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Templeton, A.R., and Lawlor, L.R. 1981. The fallacy of the averages in ecological optimization theory. American Naturalist, 117: 390–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Timin, M.E. 1973. A multispecies consumption model. Mathematical Biosciences, 16: 59–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen, L. 1960. The natural control of insects in pinewoods. I. Factors influencing the intensity of predation by songbirds. Archives Neerlandaises de Zoologie, 13: 265–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toft, C.A. 1981. Feeding ecology of Panamanian litter anurans: patterns in diet and foraging mode. Journal of Herpetology, 15: 139–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turrelli, M., Gillespie, J.H., and Schoener, T.W. 1982. The fallacy of the fallacy of the averages in ecological optimization. American Naturalist, 119: 879–884.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ware, D.M. 1975. Growth, metabolism, and optimal swimming speed of a pelagic fish. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 32: 33–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner, E.E., and Hall, D.J. 1974. Optimal foraging and the size selection of prey by the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). Ecology, 55: 1042–1052.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner, E.E., and Hall, D.J. 1976. Niche shifts in sunfishes: experimental evidence and significance. Science, 191: 404–406.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Werner, E.E, and Hall, D.J. 1977. Competition and habitat shift in two sunfishes (Centrarchidae). Ecology, 58: 869–876.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werner, E.E., and Hall, D.J. 1979. Foraging efficiency and habitat switching in competing sunfishes. Ecology, 60: 256–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westoby, M. 1974. An analysis of diet selection by large generalist herbivores. American Naturalist, 108: 290–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetterer, J.K., and Bishop, C.J. 1985. Planktivore prey selection: the reactive field volume model vs. the apparent size model. Ecology, 66: 457–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, K.S., and Myers, J.H. 1984. Previous herbivore attack of red alder may improve food quality for fall webworm larvae. Oecologia, 63: 166–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winterhalder, B. 1977. Foraging Strategy Adaptations of the Boreal Forest Cree: An Evaluation of Theory and Models From Evolutionary Ecology. Dissertation. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winterhalder, B. 1981. Foraging strategies in the boreal forest: an analysis of Cree hunting and gathering. In: Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies (ed. by: B. Winterhalder & E.A. Smith ), pp. 66–98. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winterhalder, B., and Smith, E.A. 1981. Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, D.I., and O’Brien, W.J. 1984. The development and field test of a tactical model of the planktivorous feeding of white crappie (Pomoxis annularis). Ecological Monographs, 54: 65–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of California, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Thomas W. Schoener

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Schoener
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Alan C. Kamil

  2. Oxford University, Oxford, England

    John R. Krebs

  3. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    H. Ronald Pulliam

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1987 Plenum Press, New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Schoener, T.W. (1987). A Brief History of Optimal Foraging Ecology. In: Kamil, A.C., Krebs, J.R., Pulliam, H.R. (eds) Foraging Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9027-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1839-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation