Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
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 arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (35)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Brodin, A.
Right arrow Articles by Clark, C. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Brodin, A.
Right arrow Articles by Clark, C. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1997 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Long-term hoarding in the Paridae: a dynamic model

Anders Brodin and Colin W. Clark

Department of Mathematics 121-1984 Mathematics Road University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada

ABSTRACT

Using stochastic dynamic programming we modeled the hoarding and foraging behavior of tits and chickadees, Pandas, that are resident in the boreal forest at high latitudes. Here autumns have a rich supply of seeds and temperatures are relatively mild, while winters are cold with short days and a low food supply. We assumed that parids have a memory of limited duration and that forgotten seeds accumulate in a bank that adds to the general food supply in the hoarder's territory. Our model predicts that birds should start "high-intensity" hoarding in early autumn, but not before that. Because of mass-dependent costs the birds will keep their fat levels low during the autumn. When winter arrives they will carry more body fat, both for the long winter nights and to hedge against the large effects of weather variations in winter. After increasing the fat level at the start of winter, fat should gradually increase even more, to compensate for the diminishing food supply. Most hoarding occurs in autumn as a way of building up the supply of long-term stores. Remembered, or short-term caches, may hedge against stochastic events in the environment. Even though conditions are not beneficial for hoarding in winter, the birds still stored in winter to maintain larger short and long-term hoards if environmental variation increased. Almost all time in winter that not was spent foraging was spent perching, mainly to avoid predation

Key words: Boreal climate, dynamic modelling, food hoarding, long-term hoarding, Paridas.


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


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
E. Rhoades and D. T. Blumstein
Predicted fitness consequences of threat-sensitive hiding behavior
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2007; 18(5): 937 - 943.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
L. H. Male and T. V. Smulders
Memory for food caches: not just for retrieval
Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2007; 18(2): 456 - 459.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
U. G. Reinhardt
Asset protection in juvenile salmon: how adding biological realism changes a dynamic foraging model
Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2002; 13(1): 94 - 100.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
V. V. Pravosudov and J. R. Lucas
A dynamic model of short-term energy management in small food-caching and non-caching birds
Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2001; 12(2): 207 - 218.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
J. R. Lucas, V. V. Pravosudov, and D. L. Zielinski
A reevaluation of the logic of pilferage effects, predation risk, and environmental variability on avian energy regulation: the critical role of time budgets
Behav. Ecol., March 1, 2001; 12(2): 246 - 260.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
A. Brodin
Why do hoarding birds gain fat in winter in the wrong way? Suggestions from a dynamic model
Behav. Ecol., January 1, 2000; 11(1): 27 - 39.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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.