Dominance and social foraging: a laboratory study

Caraco, Thomas; Barkan, Christopher P. L.; Beacham, Jeffery L.; Brisbin, L.; Lima, Steven L.; Mohan, Arjun; Newman, J. A.; Webb, William L.; Withiam, M. L.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(89)80064-8

Cited by 60 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Combining these predictions with our own does not alter the predicted pattern very much because we predict that individuals with low reserves will use scrounger strategies more and that these will be the dominants who should keep low reserves and prefer the use of scrounging anyway. Empirical findings support these predictions (Baker et al 1981;Rohwer and Ewald 1981;Czikeli 1983;Theimer 1987;Caraco et al 1989;Clifton 1991). It would still be important, however, to distinguish the effects of dominance hierarchy from those of energetic state.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Daily Patterns of Optimal Producer and Scrounger Use under Predation Hazard: A State-Dependent Dynamic Game Analysis

Bárta¹,

Giraldeau²

2000

The American Naturalist

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Feeding in groups often gives rise to joining: feeding from other's discoveries. The joining decision has been modeled as a producer-scrounger game where the producer strategy consists of searching for one's food and the scrounger strategy consists of searching for food discovered by others. Previous models revealed that the evolutionarily stable proportion of scrounging mostly depends on the fraction of each food patch available only to its producer. These early models are static and state independent and are therefore unable to explore whether the time of day, the animal's state, and the degree of predation hazard influence an individual's decision of whether to use the producer or scrounger strategy. To investigate these issues, we developed a state-dependent dynamic producer-scrounger game model. The model predicts that, early in the day, low reserves promote a preference for the scrounger strategy, while the same condition late in the day favors the use of the producer strategy. Under rich and clumped food, the availability of scrounging can improve the daily survival of any average group member. The model suggests only weak effects of predation hazard on the use of scrounging. Future developments should consider the effects of dominance asymmetries and allowing foragers a choice between foraging alone or in a group harboring an evolutionarily stable frequency of scrounger.Keywords: social foraging, producer-scrounger game, state-dependent dynamic game.Most animals' behavior follows a more or less regular daily pattern (routine). Recent theoretical investigations of * E-mail: zbarta@dragon.klte.hu. † E-mail: giraluc@vax2.concordia.ca.Am. Nat. 2000. Vol. 155, pp. 570-582. ᭧ 2000 by The University of Chicago. 0003-0147/2000/15504-0011$03.00. All rights reserved.state-dependent dynamic models (reviewed by Cuthill and Houston 1997;Houston and McNamara 1999) identify several innately associated trade-offs among the day-night cycle, gaining/consuming energy and avoiding predation, which can generate these routines even in the absence of varying external variables (e.g., food availability or temperature). Night (the nonforaging period), for instance, notably reduces the animal's energy reserves, which can only be replenished during daylight. Foraging increases energy reserves at the expense of increased predation hazard, while resting offers more safety against predators but consumes energy (Houston et al. 1993). As a consequence of these trade-offs, different behavioral actions are optimal during different parts of the day, leading to the emergence of daily routines. As a result of recent theoretical and empirical investigations (e.g., McNamara et al. 1994;Witter et al. 1994;Cuthill and Houston 1997;Dall and Witter 1998;Houston and McNamara 1999; Van der Veen, in press a, in press b), a lot is known both about the solitary animals' daily routines and about the factors influencing them but the analysis of daily routines of animals taking part in social foraging interactions is still missing.The exploitat...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Daily Patterns of Optimal Producer and Scrounger Use under Predation Hazard: A State-Dependent Dynamic Game Analysis

Bárta¹,

Giraldeau²

2000

The American Naturalist

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“…There is some empirical evidence, e.g. in dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis), whitethroated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) and Harris' sparrows (Zonotrichia querula) that dominant individuals preferentially use the scrounger strategy (Baker et al, 1981;Rohwer & Ewald, 1981;Theimer, 1987;Caraco et al, 1989;Wiley, 1991). Note, however, that most of these studies either restricted their examination to too few individual s (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note, however, that most of these studies either restricted their examination to too few individual s (i.e. dyads or trios; Theimer, 1987;Caraco et al, 1989), or did not explicitly test an individual's tactic use (e.g. Rohwer & Ewald, 1981;Wiley, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Dominance on Social Foraging Tactic Use in House Sparrows

Liker¹,

Barta

2002

Behav

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SummaryWe investigated whether social foraging tactic use (producing and scrounging) in birds is affected by the dominance rank of individuals as predicted by a phenotype limited producerscrounger game. In a captive ock of house sparrows, we observed the behaviour of the birds when they were foraging on a grid containing clumps of seeds. We measured the ghting success of the birds, determined the method by which they found food clumps ( nding or joining), and measured their feeding rate. Joining were frequently observed and usually involved aggressive interactions. Most birds used both nding and joining to obtain food. We found that foraging method was related to dominance: the frequency of joining gradually increased with increasing dominance rank, as predicted by the phenotype limited model for ocks where there are moderate competitive asymmetries among the birds. Food intake rate of individuals was not related to either their dominance rank or foraging method. Similar weak relationships were predicted by the model among these variables for ocks with moderate competitive asymmetries. Behavioural variability among sparrows in locomotion frequency and vigilance was not related to their foraging method, but the rate of investigating potential

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“…While some studies, however, have found that juveniles rob more frequently than adults because they are less skilful at finding food themselves, other studies show opposite results (Brockmann & Barnard 1979; see references in Wunderle 1991, page 294;Steele & Hockey 1995). Finally, adults may be more efficient kleptoparasites Hockey & Steele 1990), and a high dominance rank may reduce the time necessary to steal food from other individuals (Caraco et al 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

Foraging site displacement in common crane flocks

Bautista

Alonso

1998

Animal Behaviour

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Optimal foraging theory predicts that an individual should resort to intraspecific kleptoparasitism when this foraging strategy helps to maximize its intake rate. Thus aggressor and victim should be foraging at lower and higher rates, respectively, than the flock average (intake rate maximization). Independent of the maximization principle, moreover, an aggressor should attack when its intake rate falls below a threshold critical for survival, and select a victim foraging at an intake rate high enough to ensure survival (starvation risk minimization). We tested both hypotheses using 324 aggressive displacements from feeding sites observed in flocks of common cranes, Grus grus, foraging on cereal fields. Aggressors attacked cranes feeding at higher rates than average birds. The immediate consequences of a successful attack were an increase in intake rate for the aggressor and a decrease for the victim. The intake rate of the aggressor prior to the attack was lower than both the mean intake rate of the flock and the minimum intake rate necessary to cover basic metabolic needs. After displacing its victim, the intake rate of the aggressor was higher than before the attack and also higher than the average intake rate of the flock. The intake rate of the aggressor after the attack was not higher than the mean intake rate of the flock, however, when the time spent on the attack was included. We conclude that cranes used a kleptoparasitic strategy to recover from temporary reductions in feeding rate. This was particularly the case below the threshold of intake necessary for survival.

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Dominance and social foraging: a laboratory study

Cited by 60 publications

References 35 publications

Daily Patterns of Optimal Producer and Scrounger Use under Predation Hazard: A State-Dependent Dynamic Game Analysis

Daily Patterns of Optimal Producer and Scrounger Use under Predation Hazard: A State-Dependent Dynamic Game Analysis

The Effects of Dominance on Social Foraging Tactic Use in House Sparrows

Foraging site displacement in common crane flocks

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