Foraging success in junco flocks and the effects of social hierarchy

Baker, Myron Charles; Belcher, Claudia S.; Deutsch, Linda C.; Sherman, Gregory L.; Thompson, Daniel

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(81)80160-1

Cited by 145 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 10 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: 70%

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: 70%

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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“…In some producer-scrounger systems, dominance hierarchies determine which individuals produce and which individuals scrounge (Baker et al 1981;Rohwer & Ewald 1981;Czikeli 1983). Although this does not seem to be the case in pigeons (Giraldeau & Lefebvre 1986), we tested whether the producer-scrounger relationship observed in the aviary sessions could have been due to social dominance.…”

Section: Effects Of Dominancementioning

confidence: 99%

Scrounging prevents cultural transmission of food-finding behaviour in pigeons

1987

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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%

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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Foraging success in junco flocks and the effects of social hierarchy

Cited by 145 publications

References 10 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

Scrounging prevents cultural transmission of food-finding behaviour in pigeons

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

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