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Foraging in the Context of Life-History : General Principles and Specific Models

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Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIG,volume 20))

Abstract

This chapter attempts to explore some aspects of the tension between general principles of foraging and the prediction of specific models. There are three main sections. The first describes some models based on maximizing the long-term rate of energetic gain. It is shown that the predictions of the standard model of prey choice do not necessarily hold in other contexts. The second section outlines a more general framework for modelling behaviour. It has the advantage of allowing decisions to depend on the animal’s state. It also puts foraging into the context of the animal’s life-history. The final section discusses the issue of simple versus complex models.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NERC Unit of Behavioural Ecology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, USA

    Alasdair I. Houston

Authors
  1. Alasdair I. Houston
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Functional and Evolutionary Biology School of Biological Sciences, University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK

    Roger N. Hughes

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Houston, A.I. (1990). Foraging in the Context of Life-History : General Principles and Specific Models. In: Hughes, R.N. (eds) Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection. NATO ASI Series, vol 20. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75118-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75118-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-75120-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-75118-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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