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Interactions between rate processes with different timescales explain counterintuitive foraging patterns of arctic
Joel P Heath1, H Grant Gilchrist, Ronald C Ydenberg
1Centre for Wildlife Ecology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. heath.joel@gmail.com
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|May 28, 2010
Summary
Arctic eiders maximize energy gain by resting during optimal foraging times, a strategy balancing multiple biological rates. This counterintuitive pattern highlights the need for multi-scale approaches in animal behavior studies.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Ecology
- Animal Physiology
- Marine Biology
Background:
- Animals must balance various processes operating at different timescales to maximize fitness.
- Foraging decisions in environments with changing conditions, like tidal currents, require complex trade-offs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how eiders balance diving, digestion, and environmental factors to maximize long-term energy gain.
- To determine if classical rate-maximizing theory adequately explains foraging strategies in multi-timescale environments.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a multi-scale dynamic modeling approach.
- Conducted continuous field observations of individual eider behavior.
Main Results:
- The optimal strategy for maximizing long-term energy gain involves resting during the most profitable foraging periods (slack currents).
- Eiders reduce foraging and increase digestion during slack currents, structuring activity for overall energetic benefit.
- Observed foraging patterns are counterintuitive to single-timescale rate-maximizing theory.
Conclusions:
- Adaptive foraging strategies can arise from trade-offs among overlapping rate processes operating at different timescales.
- A multi-scale approach is essential for understanding complex animal routines and ecological time series.
- Classical optimization theories focusing on single timescales are insufficient for explaining these observed foraging patterns.
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