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Ecology & Evolution of Societies > Resource acquisition by societies part 1 > Flashcards

Resource acquisition by societies part 1 Flashcards

1
Q

what do animals need to balance when deciding when and where to forage for food?

A
  1. time
  2. reward
  3. risk
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2
Q

what does optimal foraging seek to explain?

A

it seeks to explain the diversity of approaches to foraging based on the costs and benefits of alternative strategies available to an organism

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3
Q

define Central place foraging

A

a mode of foraging where the forager must return to a central location to process, consume, store and/or share food resource

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4
Q

what benefit/cost do greater foraging distances provide?

A
  • benefit of more food and a greater variety of food types
  • cost of time, energy expenditure, and risk
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5
Q

What kind of decisions do foragers have to balance?

A
  • How long to look?
  • How hard to work?
  • Once food is located, how much should be retrieved?
  • How quickly should it be retrieved?
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6
Q

Central-place foraging is the foraging mode for what kinds of organisms

A

any shelter-building social organism, and many others with a well-defined core area

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7
Q

Having a shelter and central-place foraging may allow what?

A

it may allow new food types

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8
Q

Having a shelter and central-place foraging may allow new food types - Many group members may what?

A

further facilitate access to new food types

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9
Q

Having a shelter and central-place foraging may allow new food types - tradeoffs of having many group members

A

a subset of all society members must feed the whole society

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10
Q

Having a shelter and central-place foraging may allow new food types - what is the cost for the tradeoff

A
  • cost is that individual foragers must forage longer and further from the central location than a solitary organism would
  • time, distance, and risk costs are amplified
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11
Q

Central-place social foraging - Example

A

leaf-cutting ants

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12
Q

central-place foraging - leaf-cutting ants

A

A leaf-cutting ant forager may travel several hundred meters to a foraging site

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13
Q

central-place foraging - costs

A
  • Time and energy spent foraging
  • Increased forager mortality rates
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14
Q

central-place foraging - which social traits offset the costs?

A
  • Division of labor
  • Foraging specialization tied to increase in age and/or a decline in fecundity
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15
Q

what do individual strategies in social foraging do

A

Balances the costs and benefits of foraging at the level of individuals

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16
Q

individual strategies

A
  • Search behavior.
  • Orientation mechanisms.
  • Load size.
  • Morphological adaptations.
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17
Q

search behavior - define Correlated random walk

A

Each subsequent step is in a random direction, but with a degree of correlation to the previous direction of movement.

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18
Q

correlated random walk - Optimal turning angle (tortuosity) depends on what?

A

the probable distribution of food sources and the number of cooperative searchers

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19
Q

correlated random walk - Encounters with other group members or lack of food favors what?

A

favors straighter search paths and greater distances

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20
Q

correlated random walk - how do single foragers perform optimally

A

they use a tortuous search path to maximize area coverage around the “central place”.

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21
Q

search behavior - example

A

silver desert ants

22
Q

search behavior: silver desert ants - What pattern of tortuosity and social coverage do they engage in?

A
  • They move in different directions to cover more ground
  • They all typically maintain a straight movement (less tortuous path/shallower angle)
23
Q

search behavior: silver desert ants - What might we predict about foraging distance and food availability from their tortuosity

A
  • Widely scattered food
  • Food is not near the nest
24
Q

Once food resources are acquired, how does the individual return to the central place?…What are the possible mechanisms of orientation back to the “central place”?

A
  • individual orientation
  • can involve a combination of 4 things
25
Q

Individual orientation can involve a combination of what?

A
  • Visual cues.
  • Acoustic communication between group members.
  • Chemical orientations.
  • Biomechanical detection of distance.
26
Q

individual orientation - visual cues example

A

honeybees

27
Q

individual orientation: visual cues - how do honeybees estimate distance

A

“Strobing” of images past the bee is used to estimate distance

28
Q

individual orientation: visual cues - honeybee experiment

A

the bee flies through a tunnel where the visual pattern can be manipulated.

29
Q

individual orientation: visual cues - what does manipulation do to the honeybees

A

Manipulation of pattern to reduce frequency of image cues reduces distance estimates by bees.

30
Q

individual orientation: visual cues - result of honeybee experiment

A

A visual “odometer” from environmental visual cues is used in bee orientation and distance calculation.

31
Q

individual orientation - what is the most reliable and simple mechanism?

A

retracing path along persistent path route

32
Q

individual orientation: retracing path - Path persistence can include what

A
  • Remembered path, typically via landmark orientation.
  • Physical and/or chemical signature from outbound journey
33
Q

individual orientation: retracing path - What’s the main cost of retracing outbound path?

A

The retraced path may be longer than it actually is

34
Q

individual orientation - what does path integration involve?

A

it involves the use of outbound journey information to calculate a straight(er) return route of known direction and distance.

35
Q

individual orientation - path integration example

A

silver desert ant

36
Q

load size - what do social mammals tend to do?

A

tend not to retrieve and instead rapidly consume and defend in place

37
Q

load size: social mammals - if retrieval does happen, what should selection favor?

A

selection should favor maximum load size that does not hinder the overall efficiency of foraging strategy

38
Q

load size - define “load matching”

A

loads are matched to body size but are still small enough to not hinder retrieval speed.

39
Q

load size - when is “load matching” common

A

in social animals that retrieve resource loads

40
Q

Contrasting examples load transport with load-matching

A

army ants vs leaf-cutting ants

41
Q

contrasting examples load transport with load-matching - army ants

A
  • Faster than leaf-cutting ants
  • Collaborative behavior
  • Carrying prey below body
42
Q

contrasting examples load transport with load-matching: army ants - what are the benefits and costs of carrying prey below body

A
  • benefit: can carry heavier items
  • cost: must fit below the legs
43
Q

contrasting examples load transport with load-matching - leaf-cutting ants

A
  • A lot slower than army ants
  • More individualistic with load carrying
  • Carry prey above head
44
Q

contrasting examples load transport with load-matching: leaf-cutting ants - what are the benefits and costs of carrying prey above the head

A
  • benefit: can carry bigger pieces
  • cost: move a lot slower
45
Q

Morphological adaptations for foraging - in social mammals

A

primary tools are teeth and claws.

46
Q

morphological adaptations for foraging - in social insects

A

primary tools are the mandibles and sting (or other chemical weapons)

47
Q

Morphological adaptations for foraging are heavily dictated by what?

A
  • heavily dictated by the evolutionary history of the group
  • but are often enhanced in the context of social life.
48
Q

Morphological adaptations for social foraging - example

A
  • porter caste in army ants
  • social dogs vs social cats
49
Q

morphological adaptations for social foraging - porter caste in army ants

A
  • has specialized mandibles, big heads, and long legs
  • evolves in species that carry awkward prey
  • but must “fit” in the developmental space between workers and soldiers, so morphological traits are constrained by evolutionary history.
50
Q

morphological adaptations for social foraging - social dogs

A

Run prey to exhaustion and use teeth for take-down

51
Q

morphological adaptations for social foraging - social cats

A

High-speed prey capture with teeth and rotatable, clawed paws.

Ecology & Evolution of Societies (24 decks)

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