Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lair, H.
Right arrow Articles by Giraldeau, L.-A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lair, H.
Right arrow Articles by Giraldeau, L.-A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1994 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Interference competition in central place foragers: the effect of imposed waiting on patch-use decisions of eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus

Hèlène Lair, Donald L. Kramer and Luc-Alain Giraldeau

Department of Biology, McGill University 1205 Docteur Penfield Avenue, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada Department of Biology, Concordia University 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve West, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada

ABSTRACT

When central place foragers compete aggressively for patchy resources, subordinates may be preventedfrom collecting food until a dominant has departed with its load. Extensions of central place foraging models predict that animals forced to wait at a patch should increase their load sizes and patch times aswell as their tendency to search for and switch to alternative patches. We tested these predictions usingeastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus, hoarding sunflower seeds collected from seed/vermiculite mixturesin trays placed 5-8 m from their burrows. By using her hand to prevent access to the patch, the experimentersubjected animals to progressively increasing waiting times at two seed densities; another series of trialsat the same seed densities monitored a similar number of trips without imposed waiting. As predicted, patch times and load sizes were higher in sessions with imposed waiting than in control sessions. Loadsizes increased with trial number in experimental sessions but decreased or remained the same in controlsessions. Chipmunks spent more of their time searching for alternative patches during trials with imposed waiting than during controls. They also started searching for alternative patches at lower levels of imposed waiting when using poor than when using rich patches. These results indicate that the effects of interference on foraging decisions and on spatial overlap between individuals can be predicted by simple economic models. Furthermore, the results suggest how resource-defense tactics can be predicted by the economic effects of interference on the foraging efficiency of the opponent.

Key words: central place foraging, chipmunk, competition, environmental tracking, hoarding, interference, load size, optimal foraging, patch choice, resource defense, Tamias Sciuridae.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.