What does optimal foraging mean

Scientists have found that the crows, on average, fly to a height that yields the most amount of food relative to the energy used to obtain it. How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior.

Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment. Optimal foraging theory states that natural selection favors foraging strategies that balance the benefits of a particular food, such as energy and nutrients, with the costs of obtaining it, such as energy expenditure and the risk of predation.

Optimal foraging maximizes benefits while minimizing costs. Optimal foraging theory is supported by evidence from several species. To eat a whelk, a crow must crack open its shell, which it achieves by flying with the whelk and then dropping it onto rocks beneath. Crows will do this repeatedly until the shell cracks. Flying higher will break the shell sooner, but requires more energy. By dropping whelks from various heights, scientists calculated the optimal height that will break the shell using the least amount of energy.

The crows, on average, fly close to this height to crack whelk shells—supporting the idea that this foraging behavior has evolved to be optimal for energy balance. Larger whelks also break more easily than smaller whelks, in addition to containing more caloric energy. Crows further optimize their strategy by selecting large whelks and making many attempts to crack a single whelk, rather than expending extra energy to find another whelk. The risk of being attacked by predators can be another cost of foraging.

Researchers found that mule deer spend more time foraging in open areas although there is slightly less food available than at the edges of the forest. This is due to a lower risk of predation by mountain lions in open areas. This observation further supports the idea that foraging is a trade-off between benefits and costs, and that evolution favors strategies that are optimized to balance the two.

Watanabe, Yuuki Y. To learn more about our GDPR policies click here. If you want more info regarding data storage, please contact gdpr jove. Your access has now expired. Provide feedback to your librarian. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to our customer success team.

Login processing Chapter Behavior. Chapter 1: Scientific Inquiry. Chapter 2: Chemistry of Life. Chapter 3: Macromolecules. Chapter 4: Cell Structure and Function.

Chapter 5: Membranes and Cellular Transport. Chapter 6: Cell Signaling. Chapter 7: Metabolism. Chapter 8: Cellular Respiration. For more than 50 years, OFT has provided evolutionary explanations for observed foraging behavior, to the point that it can be considered a strong theory of behavior and ecology [ 22 , 23 ].

OFT takes two forms: classical OFT, which applies to solitary foragers, and foraging game theory, which applies to social species. In the former, individuals are assumed to forage independently of each other, so that an individual does not respond directly to the behavior of neighbors.

Skip to main content Skip to table of contents. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available. Encyclopedia of Social Insects Living Edition. Editors: Christopher K. Contents Search. Optimal Foraging Theory. Authors Authors and affiliations Graham H. Pyke Christopher K. Living reference work entry First Online: 21 July How to cite.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Burd, M. Global optimization from suboptimal parts: Foraging sensu lato by leaf-cutting ants. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 59 , — CrossRef Google Scholar. Burns, J. A test of spatial memory and movement patterns of bumblebees at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Behavioural Ecology, 17 , 48— Cartar, R.

A test of risk-sensitive foraging in wild bumble bees. Ecology, 72 , — Collevatti, R. Foraging behaviour of bee pollinators on the tropical weed Triumfetta semitriloba : Departure rules from flower patches. Insectes Sociaux, 44 , — Detrain, C. A field assessment of optimal foraging in ants: Trail patterns and seed retrieval by the European harvester ant Messor barbarus. Insectes Sociaux, 47 , 56— Dreisig, H.

Nectar distribution assessment by bumblebees foraging at vertical inflorescences. These two has to be in balance. The optimal foraging theory model predicts how animals maximise their foraging efficiency and also give valuable insight into managing captive animals.

To better understand this theoretical model, we take a look at the four main variables that make this optimal forage equation. The food an animal consumes contains a certain amount of energy. Different food products and different prey items contain varying amounts of energy. To consume these food items will cost handling time which is described as consummatory behaviours. But before an animal can consume food, it first has to search for suitable food items appetitive behaviour. Some food items cost long search time think of a search for a large prey item by a tiger , and others have much shorter search time i.

The last variable is the next most profitable food item that can be foraged. These variables complete the equation which determines the foraging decision of animals.

Optimal foraging theory OFT is a theoretical model that helps predict how an animal behaves when searching for food and stating that natural selection favours animals whose behavioural strategies maximise their net energy intake per unit time spent foraging. These limitations can be with their morphology or physiology that constraint the intake or chase of some food items. On the other hand, these limitations can also have a geographical nature and tied to the environment of the animal or the outbalance of the net energy of foraging some food items.

These limiting factors make it logical why animals eat some things and not others. It also determines what kind of consumer an animal is: a generalist has a generalistic forage strategy and easily adapt its forage strategy with seasons and food availability, whereas specialists are specialised in a specific or narrow range of food items and have more difficulties adapting to short-term changes. The optimal foraging theory is a fascinating topic and makes it more clear how foraging strategies develop within animals.

But how about animals that live in captive environments? Is it still applicable to them as well? The short answer is no. When we have a closer look at the different parameters of this model, it will quickly become apparent that animals in captive environments miss particular behavioural challenges within their foraging strategy.

For many animals, the travel time and search time for available food are much more limited than in the wild. Especially when fed in the same way every day, animals know the shortest route to the feeding patches or feeding bowls. Besides, the food load is for most animals always the same day in day out. Many animals have some variation in diet products, but the amount and load are always the same. When animals obtain a relatively high net energy gain without making any effort for it, makes it clear why obesity in captive animals is a serious problem.

In the wild animals continuously make choices between the effort it takes and energy it gains, so that it is in balance. Furthermore, the expectations and time of feeding are also pretty steady in most facilities, so animals develop behaviours to anticipate the arrival of food.

This phenomenon is called pre feeding anticipation PFA or food anticipatory activity FAA and often express in pacing or begging behaviours. And that is not a strange thing, though. As the model shows, animals are continuous making decision about the optimal forage strategy, and they spend more time to collect all the food they need.

When animals do not have to spend that much time on foraging, they will spend this time on other behaviours. It is essential to understand PFA to make well-thought decisions on feeding strategies for captive animals. Thus, we can conclude that the optimal forage strategy is not directly applicable to captive environments.

However, when we better understand forage strategies of their wild counterparts, we can use this information for animals we keep under human care to improve the way we feed them. And with that, improve the overall wellbeing of them. Looking at this theory, you can imagine that foraging time is a significant factor for animals, likewise for animals in enclosed environments.