Optimal Giving-Up Times and the Marginal Value Theorem

1982 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. McNair
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Value Theorem ◽  
Marginal Value

scholarly journals Wild Bornean orangutan ( Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii ) feeding rates and the Marginal Value Theorem

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea L. DiGiorgio ◽  
Elizabeth M. Upton ◽  
Tri Wahyu Susanto ◽  
Cheryl D. Knott
Keyword(s):  
Pongo Pygmaeus ◽  
Marginal Value Theorem ◽  
Feeding Rates ◽  
Marginal Value ◽  
Bornean Orangutan ◽  
Pongo Pygmaeus Wurmbii

scholarly journals Visual foraging: Quitting behavior when searching aerial maps follows the Marginal Value Theorem

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1250-1250
Author(s):  
T. Horowitz ◽  
K. Semmelmann ◽  
S. Boettcher ◽  
J. M. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Value Theorem ◽  
Marginal Value ◽  
Visual Foraging

scholarly journals Nahua mushroom gatherers use area-restricted search strategies that conform to marginal value theorem predictions

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 10339-10347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Pacheco-Cobos ◽  
Bruce Winterhalder ◽  
Cecilia Cuatianquiz-Lima ◽  
Marcos F. Rosetti ◽  
Robyn Hudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Search Behavior ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Marginal Value Theorem ◽  
Step Size ◽  
Marginal Value ◽  
Discrete Maps ◽  
Recent Theoretical Work ◽  
Resource Patches ◽  
Natural Settings

We develop a method of analysis for testing the marginal value theorem (MVT) in natural settings that does not require an independent definition or mapping of patches. We draw on recent theoretical work on area-restricted search (ARS) that links turning-angle and step-size changes to geographically localized encounter-rates. These models allow us to estimate “giving-up times” using encounter-annotated GPS tracking data. Applied to a case study of Nahua mushroom foragers, these models identify distinct forms of intrapatch and interpatch search behavior, with intrapatch search transitioning to interpatch search after a predictable interval of time since the last encounter with a harvested mushroom. Our empirical estimate of giving-up time coincides with the theoretically optimal giving-up time derived under the MVT in the same environment. The MVT is currently underused in studies of human foraging and settlement patterns, due in large part to the difficulty of identifying discrete resource patches and quantifying their characteristics. Our methods mitigate the need to make such discrete maps of patches and thus have the potential to broaden the scope for empirical evaluations of the MVT and related theory in humans. Beyond studies of naturalistic foraging in humans and other animals, our approach has implications for optimization of search behavior in a range of applied fields where search dynamics must be adapted to shifting patterns of environmental heterogeneity affecting prey density and patchiness.

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