The effects of food availability and distance to protective cover on the winter foraging behaviour of tits (Aves: Parus)

Oecologia ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 129 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Walther ◽  
A. Gosler
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Protective Cover

scholarly journals Cuttlefish show flexible and future-dependent foraging cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 20190743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Billard ◽  
Alexandra K. Schnell ◽  
Nicola S. Clayton ◽  
Christelle Jozet-Alves
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Strategy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Foraging Activity ◽  
Experimental Conditions

Some animals optimize their foraging activity by learning and memorizing food availability, in terms of quantity and quality, and adapt their feeding behaviour accordingly. Here, we investigated whether cuttlefish flexibly adapt their foraging behaviour according to the availability of their preferred prey. In Experiment 1, cuttlefish switched from a selective to an opportunistic foraging strategy (or vice versa ) when the availability of their preferred prey at night was predictable versus unpredictable. In Experiment 2, cuttlefish exhibited day-to-day foraging flexibility, in response to experiencing changes in the proximate future (i.e. preferred prey available on alternate nights). In Experiment 1, the number of crabs eaten during the day decreased when shrimp (i.e. preferred food) were predictably available at night, while the consumption of crabs during the day was maintained when shrimp availability was unpredictable. Cuttlefish quickly shifted from one strategy to the other, when experimental conditions were reversed. In Experiment 2, cuttlefish only reduced their consumption of crabs during the daytime when shrimps were predictably available the following night. Their daytime foraging behaviour appeared dependent on shrimps' future availability. Overall, cuttlefish can adopt dynamic and flexible foraging behaviours including selective, opportunistic and future-dependent strategies, in response to changing foraging conditions.

Winter Foraging by Common Seals (Phoca vitulina) in Relation to Food Availability in the Inner Moray Firth, N.E. Scotland

10.2307/5460 ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 283 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.M. Thompson ◽  
G.J. Pierce ◽  
J.R.G. Hislop ◽  
D. Miller ◽  
J.S.W. Diack
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Moray Firth

Distance from cover affects artificial food-patch depletion by macropod herbivores

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. While ◽  
Clare McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Artificial Food ◽  
Full Dataset ◽  
Burnt Wood ◽  
Feeding Station ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Protective Cover ◽  
First Time ◽  
Patch Depletion

Artificial food patches were used to examine whether red bellied-pademelons (Thylogale billiardierii) and Bennett’s wallabies (Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus) altered their foraging behaviour in an open habitat (a young plantation) in response to distance from cover, used as a surrogate for predation risk. Analyses using the full dataset showed no significant relationship between the amount of food eaten at a station and any of the cover variables. In contrast, regression analyses of the upper bounds dataset indicated that both increased distance from windrow (2.5-m-high stacks of burnt wood) and from nearest cover (windrow or forest at plantation edge) significantly reduced the amount of food consumed at a station. This indicates that distance from cover acts as a constraint on the amount of food eaten. When the feeding-station data were overlayed onto a map of scat densities across the study site, the amount of food eaten was positively related to the density of scats of both red-bellied pademelons and Bennett’s wallabies. Our results demonstrate that these macropods trade-off increased foraging benefits in order to forage closer to protective cover. Furthermore, they represent the first time that artificial food patches, with progressively decreasing reward per search effort, have been used to assess foraging behaviour in macropods. This opens up a wide range of research opportunities aimed at examining macropod foraging, with both ecological and practical applications.

scholarly journals Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10305
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Giles ◽  
Pat Harris ◽  
Sean A. Rands ◽  
Christine J. Nicol
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Social Dominance ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Winter Foraging ◽  
Proxy Measure ◽  
Domestic Horses

Individual animals experience different costs and benefits associated with group living, which may impact on their foraging efficiency in ways not yet well specified. This study investigated associations between social dominance, body condition and interruptions to foraging behaviour in a cross-sectional study of 116 domestic horses and ponies, kept in 20 discrete herds. Social dominance was measured for each individual alongside observations of winter foraging behaviour. During bouts of foraging, the duration, frequency and category (vigilance, movement, social displacements given and received, scratching and startle responses) of interruptions were recorded, with total interruption time taken as a proxy measure of foraging efficiency. Total foraging time was not influenced by body condition or social dominance. Body condition was associated with social dominance, but more strongly associated with foraging efficiency. Specifically, lower body condition was associated with greater vigilance. This demonstrates that factors other than social dominance can result in stable differences in winter body condition.

Seasonal, sexual and ontogenetic variations in the diet of the 'declining' frogs Litoria nannotis, Litoria rheocola and Nyctimystes dayi

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hodgkison ◽  
Jean-Marc Hero
Keyword(s):  
Food Availability ◽  
Diet Composition ◽  
Aquatic Invertebrates ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Prey Size ◽  
Prey Choice ◽  
Prey Selectivity ◽  
Interspecific Differences ◽  
Gape Size ◽  
Males And Females

Faecal analyses were used to investigate the diets of the endangered frogs Litoria nannotis, L. rheocola and Nyctimystes dayi in Tully Gorge, North Queensland. Comparisons of diet and food availability indicate that these species feed indiscriminately on a range of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. Changes in morphology and foraging behaviour significantly influenced diet composition and created subtle shifts in the degree of selectivity displayed in prey choice. Interspecific differences in numeric and volumetric diet composition were attributed to variations in gape size and microhabitat selection. Within the diets of L. nannotis and L. rheocola, a decline in prey selectivity observed during the dry season reflected a reduction in foraging activity. Differences in the gape size and foraging behaviour of males and females of L. nannotis were responsible for sex-specific differences in diet composition. L. nannotis also diplayed an ontogenetic shift in prey size and type. As snout–vent length increased, L. nannotis consumed fewer, but larger prey and increasingly discriminated against dipterans, dipteran larvae and hemipterans. Importantly, L. nannotis, L. rheocola and N. dayi demonstrated the capacity to compensate for fluctuations in food availability by feeding on less lucrative prey.

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