Foraging Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is a generalist forager?
An animal that feeds on a wide variety of food items and often uses opportunistic foraging strategies (e.g., raccoons, baboons).
What defines a specialist forager?
An animal that feeds on specific types of food and uses specialized foraging behaviors (e.g., koalas, pandas).
What are hunters in terms of foraging?
Predators that rely on senses like sight, hearing, and smell to detect prey, using strategies like stalking, chasing, or ambushing (e.g., lions, wolves, eagles).
What is an ambush predator?
A predator that uses camouflage and stealth, waiting for prey to come close before launching a surprise attack (e.g., crocodiles, some spiders).
What is grazing?
Feeding on grasses and low vegetation, often using selective feeding to choose nutritious plants (e.g., cows, springbok).
What is browsing?
Feeding on leaves, twigs, and shoots from trees and shrubs, sometimes using height advantage (e.g., giraffes, elephants)
What do scavengers feed on?
Dead and decaying organic matter, locating carrion by smell or visual cues (e.g., vultures, hyenas).
What are filter feeders?
nimals that passively collect plankton or organic debris from water passing through their bodies (e.g., whales, baleen sharks, some fish).
What is tool use in foraging?
Using objects like sticks or stones to extract or manipulate food (e.g., chimpanzees using sticks to get termites).
What is the optimal foraging theory?
The idea that animals maximize net energy gain by adopting foraging strategies that provide the most energy for the least cost (time, effort).
What are the main strategies animals may optimize under optimal foraging theory?
Energy maximization, time minimization, and risk sensitivity.
What does the Marginal Value Theorem predict?
The optimal time an animal should spend in a resource patch before moving on, based on diminishing returns.
What do diet choice models predict?
he optimal diet composition based on energy content and handling time of prey (profitability = energy/time).
What do patch use models predict?
How animals should allocate their foraging time between different patches to maximize energy intake.
Name one key assumption of optimal foraging models and its reality
Assumption: All individuals of the same species have the same diets/preferences.
Reality: Individual specialization often occurs to reduce competition.
How do models account for predators’ imperfect knowledge of their environment?
By extending frameworks to include learning processes like Bayesian updating and other learning rules.
Why is social foraging an important consideration?
Because predators often forage in groups, affecting prey choices and competition.
