In: Biology
What "line-items" on a predators "balance sheet" would impact its foraging strategies?
Foraging means to wander in search of food.
the line items which impacts the foraging strategies are:
1. prey density :-
If a prey is encountered at a rate aD then in a period of time of unit length, the total number of prey will be
R=aDt (t is the time when the animal is actually foraging, D is the spatial density )
Rate of prey capture is simply proportional to prey density.
2. diet choice :-
different prey items differ in enerygy contents and in time it takes to consume them. so the profitibility of the food item (E/h = energy content / handling time) determines the foraging strategy.
so, absolute density changes ...when there is a change in the prey density even if with less profitibility preddator would specialise on it ,,
nonrandom spatial distribution if the prey occurs in patches and not intermixed with other types , then it may pay the predator to specialise.so the predator will concentrate on the prey when it's absolute density is higher.