Patch estimation via memory windows and the effect of travel time

✍ Scribed by Thomas J. Valone

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 439 KB
• Volume: 157
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-5193(05)80623-x

✦ Synopsis

How a forager might use a memory window to estimate instantaneous harvest rate while it exploits slowly depleting patches in two different environments is considered here. The memory window represents some fraction of the total information obtained from sampling a patch and contains only the most recent information. Repeated Monte Carlo simulations reveal that optimal memory window size is a function of the travel time between patches. As inter-patch distance increases, foragers should use longer memory windows because increased window size increases mean time in patches. The efficacy of the modeled memory window forager is relatively unaffected by the degree of environmental variation. In both environments, the optimal memory window size ranges from 26-44% of the total time in a patch.