Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e49400 |
| Journal | PLoS ONE |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
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Keywords
- sticklebacks gasterosteus-aculeatus
- guppy poecilia-reticulata
- foraging group-structure
- behavioral syndromes
- genetic algorithms
- individual specialization
- fitness consequences
- information-centers
- social information
- animal personality
Cite this
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The effect of exploration on the use of producer-scrounger tactics. / Kurvers, R.H.J.M.; Hamblin, S.; Giraldeau, L.A.
In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 7, No. 11, e49400, 2012.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of exploration on the use of producer-scrounger tactics
AU - Kurvers, R.H.J.M.
AU - Hamblin, S.
AU - Giraldeau, L.A.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Individuals foraging in groups can use two different tactics for obtaining food resources. Individuals can either search for food sources themselves (producing) or they can join food discoveries of others (scrounging). In this study we use a genetic algorithm in a spatially explicit producer-scrounger game to explore how individuals compromise between exploration (an important axis of animal personality) and scrounging and how characteristics of the environment affect this compromise. Agents varied in exploration and scrounging and a genetic algorithm searched for the optimal combination of exploration and scrounging. The foraging environments featured different levels of patch richness, predation and patch density. Our simulations show that under conditions of low patch densities slow exploring scroungers were favored whereas high patch density favored fast exploring individuals that either produced (at low patch richness) or scrounged (at high patch richness). In high predation environments fast exploring individuals were selected for but only at low to intermediate patch densities. Predation did not affect scrounging behavior. We did not find a divergence of exploration ‘types’ within a given environment, but there was a general association between exploration and scrounging across different environments: high rates of scrounging were observed over nearly the full spectrum of exploration values, whereas high rates of producing were only observed at high exploration values, suggesting that cases in which slow explorers start producing should be rare. Our results indicate that the spatial arrangement of food resources can affect the optimal social attraction rules between agents, the optimality of foraging tactic and the interaction between both.
AB - Individuals foraging in groups can use two different tactics for obtaining food resources. Individuals can either search for food sources themselves (producing) or they can join food discoveries of others (scrounging). In this study we use a genetic algorithm in a spatially explicit producer-scrounger game to explore how individuals compromise between exploration (an important axis of animal personality) and scrounging and how characteristics of the environment affect this compromise. Agents varied in exploration and scrounging and a genetic algorithm searched for the optimal combination of exploration and scrounging. The foraging environments featured different levels of patch richness, predation and patch density. Our simulations show that under conditions of low patch densities slow exploring scroungers were favored whereas high patch density favored fast exploring individuals that either produced (at low patch richness) or scrounged (at high patch richness). In high predation environments fast exploring individuals were selected for but only at low to intermediate patch densities. Predation did not affect scrounging behavior. We did not find a divergence of exploration ‘types’ within a given environment, but there was a general association between exploration and scrounging across different environments: high rates of scrounging were observed over nearly the full spectrum of exploration values, whereas high rates of producing were only observed at high exploration values, suggesting that cases in which slow explorers start producing should be rare. Our results indicate that the spatial arrangement of food resources can affect the optimal social attraction rules between agents, the optimality of foraging tactic and the interaction between both.
KW - sticklebacks gasterosteus-aculeatus
KW - guppy poecilia-reticulata
KW - foraging group-structure
KW - behavioral syndromes
KW - genetic algorithms
KW - individual specialization
KW - fitness consequences
KW - information-centers
KW - social information
KW - animal personality
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0049400
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0049400
M3 - Article
VL - 7
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 11
M1 - e49400
ER -