Search results for " foraging"

Spatial Memory Drives Foraging Strategies of Wolves, but in Highly Individual Ways

2022

The ability of wild animals to navigate and survive in complex and dynamic environments depends on their ability to store relevant information and place it in a spatial context. Despite the centrality of spatial memory, and given our increasing ability to observe animal movements in the wild, it is perhaps surprising how difficult it is to demonstrate spatial memory empirically. We present a cognitive analysis of movements of several wolves (Canis lupus) in Finland during a summer period of intensive hunting and den-centered pup-rearing. We tracked several wolves in the field by visiting nearly all GPS locations outside the den, allowing us to identify the species, location and timing of ne…

Does the movement pattern of non-visual eye movements during episodic vs semantic memory tasks correspond to Lévy Flights?: Poster

2021

Does the movement pattern of non-visual eye movements during episodic vs semantic memory tasks correspond to Lévy Flights?: Oral presentation

2021

Predation risk and habitat selection of Australian house mice , Mus domesticus , during an incipient plague: desperate behaviour due to food depletion

2002

We studied habitat selection and foraging behaviour of the house mouse (Mus domesticus) related to increasing mouse densities and depleting food resources over the breeding season. The study was conducted during the increase phase of an incipient outbreak of mice in a grain-growing area of southeastern Australia. A 3-year rotation created a mosaic of large paddocks of grain crop, pasture, and fallow. The narrow fence lines between paddocks provide an important stable habitat for the mice. We monitored population densities with live-trapping and habitat preference by measuring giving-up densities (GUD) using artificial food patches. Food patches were established in crop fields, fence lines, …

Understanding Interaction Search Behavior in Professional Social Networks

2011

We present an empirical study of social interaction in a professional social network. As the point of departure, we take previous research into distributed work and information foraging theory to explore interaction search behavior of individuals active in professional networks, examining how social factors govern their behavior. For this exploration, we focused on the process through which relevant collaborators are chosen to execute shared work tasks in the area of logistics, and identified six characteristics of the explored processes. We recognized the “survival of the social” as a cornerstone for efficient and long-term professional networks and outlined design implications arising fro…

Individual differences in behavioral consistency are related to sequential access to resources and body condition in a producer-scrounger game

2014

Investigating the evolution of consistent between-individual behavioral differences necessitates to explain the emergence of within-individual consistency. Relying on a recent mathematical model, we here test the prediction that the emergence of differences in within-individual consistency is related to the sequential access to resources in a frequency-dependent foraging game. To this end we used flocks of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) engaged in a producer-scrounger foraging game. Tactic investment (i.e., the proportion of hops with the head down) significantly predicted successful tactic use (i.e., the proportion of seeds produced). In support of predictions, we found that individua…

Spatial Cognition 2020/1: Book of abstracts : August 2-4, 2021, University of Latvia

2021

Spatial Cognition is concerned with the acquisition, development, representation, organization, and use of knowledge about spatial objects in real, virtual or hybrid environments and processed by human or artificial agents. Spatial Cognition includes research from different fields insofar as they are concerned with cognitive agents and space, such as cognitive and developmental psychology, linguistics, computer science, geography, cartography, philosophy, neuroscience, and education. Research issues in the field range from the investigation of human spatial cognition to mobile robot navigation, including topics such as wayfinding, spatial planning, spatial learning, internal and external re…

Switching spatial scale reveals dominance-dependent social foraging tactics in a wild primate

2017

When foraging in a social group, individuals are faced with the choice of sampling their environment directly or exploiting the discoveries of others. The evolutionary dynamics of this trade-off have been explored mathematically through the producer-scrounger game, which has highlighted socially exploitative behaviours as a major potential cost of group living. However, our understanding of the tight interplay that can exist between social dominance and scrounging behaviour is limited. To date, only two theoretical studies have explored this relationship systematically, demonstrating that because scrounging requires joining a competitor at a resource, it should become exclusive to high-rank…

Comparison of wormlion behavior under man-made and natural shelters: urban wormlions more strongly prefer shaded, fine-sand microhabitats, construct …

2019

Abstract Urban habitats differ from their natural surroundings in various aspects, such as a higher temperature and a distinct species composition. It is therefore not surprising that animal behavior too differs between these habitat types. We studied the foraging and habitat selection behavior of a pit-building predator, a wormlion, originating from either an urban or a more natural site. Wormlions occur in nature under structures that provide shelter from sunlight and rain, such as caves, and are also common in cities, occurring under artificial shelters. Wormlions construct pit-traps to hunt arthropods, and the pits constructed by urban wormlions were larger than those constructed by wor…