Foraging: Behavior And Ecology
by Joel S. Brown /
2007 / English / PDF
5.4 MB Download
Foraging is fundamental to animal survival and reproduction,
yet it is much more than a simple matter of finding food; it
is a biological imperative. Animals must find and consume
resources to succeed, and they make extraordinary efforts to
do so. For instance, pythons rarely eat, but when they
do, their meals are large—as much as 60 percent larger than
their own bodies. The snake’s digestive system is
normally dormant, but during digestion metabolic rates can
increase fortyfold. A python digesting quietly on the forest
floor has the metabolic rate of thoroughbred in a dead heat.
This and related foraging processes have broad applications
in ecology, cognitive science, anthropology, and conservation
biology—and they can be further extrapolated in economics,
neurobiology, and computer science.
Foraging is fundamental to animal survival and reproduction,
yet it is much more than a simple matter of finding food; it
is a biological imperative. Animals must find and consume
resources to succeed, and they make extraordinary efforts to
do so. For instance, pythons rarely eat, but when they
do, their meals are large—as much as 60 percent larger than
their own bodies. The snake’s digestive system is
normally dormant, but during digestion metabolic rates can
increase fortyfold. A python digesting quietly on the forest
floor has the metabolic rate of thoroughbred in a dead heat.
This and related foraging processes have broad applications
in ecology, cognitive science, anthropology, and conservation
biology—and they can be further extrapolated in economics,
neurobiology, and computer science.Foraging
Foraging is the first comprehensive review of the
topic in more than twenty years. A monumental undertaking,
this volume brings together twenty-two experts from
throughout the field to offer the latest on the mechanics of
foraging, modern foraging theory, and foraging ecology. The
fourteen essays cover all the relevant issues, including
cognition, individual behavior, caching behavior, parental
behavior, antipredator behavior, social behavior, population
and community ecology, herbivory, and conservation.
Considering a wide range of taxa, from birds to mammals to
amphibians,
is the first comprehensive review of the
topic in more than twenty years. A monumental undertaking,
this volume brings together twenty-two experts from
throughout the field to offer the latest on the mechanics of
foraging, modern foraging theory, and foraging ecology. The
fourteen essays cover all the relevant issues, including
cognition, individual behavior, caching behavior, parental
behavior, antipredator behavior, social behavior, population
and community ecology, herbivory, and conservation.
Considering a wide range of taxa, from birds to mammals to
amphibians,Foraging
Foraging will be the definitive guide to
the field.
will be the definitive guide to
the field.
