Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Production Efficiency

Production Efficiency

Net production efficiency (NPE) is the efficiency at which organisms assimilate energy into biomass for the next trophic level. Due to low metabolic rates and less energy spent on thermoregulatory processes, the NPE of ectotherms (cold-blooded animals) is 10 times higher than endotherms (warm-blooded animals).

Energy Budgets

Energy Budgets

Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...

Energy Conservation and Bernoulli's Equation

Energy Conservation and Bernoulli's Equation

Applying the conservation of energy principle or the work-energy theorem to an incompressible, inviscid fluid in laminar, steady, irrotational flow leads to Bernoulli's equation. It states that the sum of the fluid pressure, potential, and kinetic energy per unit volume is constant along a streamline.
All the terms in the equation have the dimension of energy per unit volume. The kinetic energy per unit volume is called the kinetic energy density, and the potential energy per unit volume is...

Trophic Efficiency

Trophic Efficiency

Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) is a measure of the total energy transfer from one trophic level to the next. Due to extensive energy loss as metabolic heat, an average of only 10% of the original energy obtained is passed on to the next level. This pattern of energy loss severely limits the possible number of trophic levels in a food chain.

Optimal Foraging

Optimal Foraging

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.

Maximum Power Flow and Line Loadability

Maximum Power Flow and Line Loadability

The maximum power flow for lossy transmission lines is derived using ABCD parameters in phasor form. These parameters create a matrix relationship between the sending-end and receiving-end voltages and currents, allowing the determination of the receiving-end current. This relationship facilitates calculating the complex power delivered to the receiving end, from which real and reactive power components are derived.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Self-control: changing our perspective on performance.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2026

Same author

Large language models and emergence: a complex systems perspective.

Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences·2026

Same author

Optimal diving: patch quality, depth, and marginal value.

Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology·2025

Same author

Optimal competitors: the balance of attraction and choices of mutualists, like pollinators, drives facilitation and may promote crop pollination.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025

Same author

Scales of risk and adaptive 'dread': an evolutionary theory of risk inflation.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Constructing stability: optimal learning in noisy ecological niches.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 6, 2026

A Push-pull Protocol to Reduce Colonization of Bird Nest Boxes by Honey Bees

A Push-pull Protocol to Reduce Colonization of Bird Nest Boxes by Honey Bees

Published on: September 4, 2016

Hummingbirds as net rate maximisers.

Alasdair I Houston¹, David C Krakauer¹

¹NERC Unit of Behavioural Ecology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, Oxford, UK.

|March 18, 2017

Summary

Hummingbird foraging behavior is explained by maximizing net energy gain rate. An extended model, considering costs outside foraging, better predicts feeding times than previous net rate models.

Area of Science:

Behavioral Ecology
Animal Energetics

Background:

Foraging behavior in hummingbirds is often studied through the lens of maximizing energetic efficiency.
Previous models focused on net rate but struggled to fully explain observed feeding patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

To refine understanding of hummingbird foraging behavior by extending net rate models.
To investigate the role of costs incurred outside of active foraging periods.

Main Methods:

Development of an extended net rate model for hummingbird foraging.
Comparison of the extended model against previous models and observed hummingbird feeding times.

Main Results:

The extended net rate model provides a more comprehensive explanation for hummingbird feeding times.

Keywords:

Currency Hummingbirds Meal size Net rate

More Related Videos

An Experimental Approach to Investigating Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Free-Ranging Animals: Implementation, Results, and Directions for Future Research

An Experimental Approach to Investigating Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Free-Ranging Animals: Implementation, Results, and Directions for Future Research

Published on: February 2, 2022

Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees

Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees

Published on: November 15, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 6, 2026

A Push-pull Protocol to Reduce Colonization of Bird Nest Boxes by Honey Bees

A Push-pull Protocol to Reduce Colonization of Bird Nest Boxes by Honey Bees

Published on: September 4, 2016

An Experimental Approach to Investigating Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Free-Ranging Animals: Implementation, Results, and Directions for Future Research

An Experimental Approach to Investigating Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Free-Ranging Animals: Implementation, Results, and Directions for Future Research

Published on: February 2, 2022

Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees

Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees

Published on: November 15, 2014

The currency of net energy per unit volume consumed is shown to be an unnecessary construct within this extended framework.

Failure of previous models is attributed to neglecting costs outside the foraging period.

Conclusions:

Hummingbird foraging behavior is best explained by maximizing the net rate of energy gain.
An extended model incorporating non-foraging costs offers superior predictive power for feeding times.