Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The movement of a forager: strategies for the efficient use of resources

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We study a simple model of a foraging animal that modifies the substrate on which it moves. This substrate provides its only resource, and the forager manages it by taking a limited portion at each visited site. The resource recovers its value after the visit following a relaxation law. We study different scenarios to analyze the efficiency of the managing strategy, corresponding to control the bite size. We observe the non trivial emergence of a home range, that is visited in a periodic way. The duration of the corresponding cycles and the transient until it emerges is affected by the bite size. Our results show that the most efficient use of the resource, measured as the balance between gathering and traveled distance, corresponds to foragers that take larger portions but without exhausting the resource. We also analyze the use of space determining the number of attractors of the dynamics, and we observe that it depends on the bite size and the recovery time of the resource.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P. Turchin, Quantitative Analysis of Movement: Measuring and Modeling Population Redistribution in Animals and Plants (Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1998)

  2. A. Okubo, S.A. Levin, Diffusion and Ecological Problems (Springer, 2002)

  3. A. Mikhailov, V. Calenbuhr, From Cells to Societies (Springer, 2006)

  4. C.L. Schat, M.N. Kuperman, H.S. Wio, Math. Biosci. 131, 205 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. G.M. Viswanathan, M.G.E. da Luz, E.P. Raposo, H.E. Stanley, The Physics of Foraging: An Introduction to Random Searches and Biological Encounters (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

  6. G.M. Viswanathan, V. Afanasyev, S.V. Buldyrev, E.J. Murphy, P.A. Prince, H.E. Stanley, Nature 381, 413 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. L. Giuggioli, F.J. Sevilla, V.M. Kenkre, J. Phys. A 42, 434004 (2009)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. D.J. Levey, B.M. Bolker, J.J. Tewksbury, S. Sargent, N.M. Haddad, Science 309, 146 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. J.M. Morales, T.S. Carlo, Ecology 87, 1489 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. T.A. Carlo, J.M. Morales, J. Ecol. 96, 609 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. J.M. Herrera, J.M. Morales, D. García, J. Ecol. 99, 1100 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. J.E. Cresswell, Oikos 78, 546 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. K. Ohashi, J.D. Thomson, D. D’Souza, Behav. Ecol. 18, 1 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. G. Abramson, M.N. Kuperman, J.M. Morales, J.C. Miller, Eur. Phys. J. B 87, 100 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. L.D. Kazimierski, G. Abramson, M.N. Kuperman, Phys. Rev. E 91, 012124 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. F. Bartumeus, J. Catalan, U.L. Fulco, M.L. Lyra, G.M. Viswanathan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 097901 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. K.A. Barton, B.L. Phillips, J.M. Morales, J.M.J. Travis, Oikos 118, 309 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. E.A. Fronhofer, T. Hovestadt, H.-J. Poethke, Oikos 122, 857 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. P.A. Zollner, S.L. Lima, Ecology 80, 1019 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. W.J. Bell, Searching behaviour: the behavioural ecology of finding resources, in Animal Behaviour Series (Chapman & Hall, London, 1991)

  21. S. Benhamou, Ecology 88, 1962 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. A.M. Edwards, R.A. Phillips, N.W. Watkins, M.P. Freeman, E.J. Murphy, V. Afanasyev, S.V. Buldyrev, M.G.E. da Luz, E.P. Raposo, H.E. Stanley, G.M. Viswanathan, Nature 449, 1044 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. A.M. Reynolds, Ecology 93, 1228 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. D. Boyer, O. Miramontes, H. Larralde, J. Phys. A 42, 434015 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. L. Giuggioli, G. Abramson, V.M. Kenkre, J. Theor. Biol. 240, 126 (2006)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  26. G.F. Lima, A.S. Martinez, O. Kinouchi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 010603 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. D.E. Spalinger, N.T. Hobbs, Am. Nat. 140, 325 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. T.F. Ginnett, M.W. Demment, Funct. Ecol. 9, 376 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. E.A. Laca et al., Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 39, 3 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. E.D. Ungar et al., Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 98, 183 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. L.A. Shipley, Oikos 116, 1964 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. E. Chacon, T.H. Stobbs, Australian J. Agric. Res. 27, 709 (1976)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. J. Hodgson, Grass Forage Sci. 36, 49 (1981)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. J. Hodgson, Proc. Nutr. Soc. 44, 339 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. D.E. Spalinger, N.T. Hobbs, Am. Nat. 140, 325 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. L.A. Shipley, D.E. Spalinger, Can. J. Zool. 70, 1743 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. R. Moen et al., Ecology 78, 505 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  38. A.W. Illius et al., Ecology 80, 1008 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. J.M. Fryxell et al., Ecology 85, 2429 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. J.M. Morales et al., Landscape Ecol. 20, 301 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. R.H. MacArthur, E.R. Pianka, Am. Nat. 100, 603 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. G.H. Pyke, H.R. Pulliam, E.L. Charnov, Q. J. Biol. 52, 137 (1977)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. D.W. Stephens, J.R. Krebs, Foraging theory (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1986)

  44. A.W. Illius, C. Fitzgibbon, Anim. Behav. 47, 481 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. D. Fortin et al., Ecology 85, 2312 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. A. Di Virgilio, G.C. Amico, J.M. Morales, J. Mammal. 95, 1189 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. E.L. Charnov, Theor. Popul. Biol. 9, 129 (1976)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. R.A. Pellew, J. Appl. Ecol. 21, 141 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. C.M. Bergman et al., J. Anim. Ecol. 70, 289 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. G. Amico, M.A. Aizen, Nature 408, 929 (2000)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. M.A. Aizen, Ecology 84, 2613 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Atómico Bariloche, CONICET and Instituto Balseiro, R8402AGP San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina

    Laila D. Kazimierski, Guillermo Abramson & Marcelo N. Kuperman

Authors
  1. Laila D. Kazimierski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guillermo Abramson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marcelo N. Kuperman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcelo N. Kuperman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kazimierski, L., Abramson, G. & Kuperman, M. The movement of a forager: strategies for the efficient use of resources. Eur. Phys. J. B 89, 232 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-70241-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2016-70241-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation