Name: foraging habitat patches setup
Uploaded: 2019-01-31T09:27:59.000Z
Duration: 2 min 38 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

High School

Life Science

heredity-inheritance-and-variation-of-traits

Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits

HS-LS4-2

Optimal Foraging

<ul><li><a href="#" data-time="0.0">Setting up the Foraging Habitat Patches
</a></li></ul>

optimal foraging

<ol class="note-items"><li data-note-item="1" data-parent-collapse="">Setting up the Foraging Habitat Patches
<button class="expand">Expand</button><ul class="lab-items"><li data-sub-note-item="1-1"><div class="lab-step">Print a student data collection sheet for each student to record data.  NOTE: Students will work in groups of three for this activity. For any given round, one student will forage, one student will record data and another student will run the stopwatch. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-2"><div class="lab-step">Choose a location for the foraging activity to take place. An open field is ideal for this activity but a hallway will suffice provided another location is not available. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-3"><div class="lab-step">Label four five-gallon buckets as A, B, C and Average. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-4"><div class="lab-step">Fill each bucket with 15 to 30 pounds of rice. Make sure the amount of rice is the same in each bucket. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-5"><div class="lab-step">For the bucket labeled A mix in six pinto beans. This represents the low prey density.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-6"><div class="lab-step">For the bucket labeled B mix in 16 pinto beans. This represents the medium prey density.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-7"><div class="lab-step">For the bucket labeled C mix in 26 pinto beans. This represents the high prey density.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-8"><div class="lab-step">Finally, for the bucket labeled average mix in 16 pinto beans. This represents the average prey density. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-9"><div class="lab-step">To distribute the buckets, place buckets A and average at the start of the foraging area five paces apart from each other.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-10"><div class="lab-step">Walk 25 paces away from the first two buckets and place bucket C. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-11"><div class="lab-step">Then walk 10 paces to the right or left of C and place the final bucket, B. 
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-12"><div class="lab-step">Place an empty cup next to each bucket &#8211; these will stay with the bucket, and the instructor must mix the pinto beans back into the rice after each forager has finished the course.  NOTE: The average bucket should always be placed at the start but for variety or convenience the buckets can be arranged in different ways or at different distances or prey items and numbers can be varied. 
</div></li></ul></li></ol>

<div class="section-question"><h4 class="question-sect">What is foraging?</h4><p>Foraging is the process of searching for resources including food, shelter, and mates. 
</p></div><div class="section-question"><h4 class="question-sect">What does Optimal Foraging Theory model? </h4><p>Optimal Foraging Theory models the circumstances in which an organism meets the optimum balance between expending energy to forage and acquiring resources from foraging. 
</p></div><div class="section-question"><h4 class="question-sect">How are resources spread out ...

Setting up the Foraging Habitat Patches
ExpandPrint a student data collection sheet for each student to record data.  NOTE: Students will work in groups ...

Education

JoVE Lab Manual

Biology

Ecology

Lab Manual Sub Articles

foraging habitat patches setup

<p class="jove_content">Foraging habitat patches let students model how prey density can affect foraging behavior. In this activity, students work in groups of three. One student forages, one records data, and one runs the stopwatch.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Choose a place for the foraging trial. An open field is ideal, but a hallway can work if no other space is available. Print a student data collection sheet for each student before the activity begins.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Prepare four five-gallon buckets and label them A, B, C, and Average. Fill each bucket with 15 to 30 pounds of rice, and keep the amount of rice the same in every bucket. Mix six pinto beans into bucket A to represent low prey density. Mix 16 pinto beans into bucket B for medium prey density. Mix 26 pinto beans into bucket C for high prey density. Mix 16 pinto beans into the bucket labeled Average for average prey density.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Set up the buckets at the start of the foraging area. Place buckets A and Average five paces apart. Then walk 25 paces away from those buckets and place bucket C. Next, move 10 paces to the right or left of C and place bucket B. Put an empty cup next to each bucket. The cups stay with the buckets, and the instructor must mix the pinto beans back into the rice after each forager finishes the course. The average bucket should always stay at the start, but the bucket layout, distances, prey items, and bean counts can be changed for variety or convenience.</p>

Foraging Habitat Patches Setup

Foraging Choice and Patch Use

Foraging choice and patch use are explored with a classroom simulation that uses artificial habitats and prey. In this activity, foragers search for pinto beans hidden in four buckets of rice with different prey densities. The foragers do not know the density of each bucket ahead of time, and they must collect as many prey items as possible in as little time as they can.<br /><br />The activity begins with a practice round so the forager can learn the process. The forager sits or kneels in front of the...

Foraging habitat patches let students model how prey density can affect foraging behavior. In this activity, students work in groups of three. One student forages, one records data, and one runs the stopwatch.<br /><br />Choose a place for the foraging trial. An open field is ideal, but a hallway can work if no other space is available. Print a student data collection sheet for each student before the activity begins.<br /><br />Prepare four five-gallon buckets and label them A, B, C, and Average. Fill each bucket...

lab manual sub articles

Set up a high school foraging habitat patches activity with rice-filled buckets, pinto beans, and student roles to compare prey density and foraging behavior.

Foraging Habitat Patches Setup | JoVE K12

new-york-state-science-learning-standards

New York State Science Learning Standards

Natural Selection and Evolution

HS-LS4-1.

<p>Often in life, the things an individual needs may not be within immediate grasp. So, organisms need to forage. Foraging is defined simply as the process of searching for food or more generally resources. Although food is probably the first example that comes to mind, organisms must forage for other resources like shelter or mates and animals often go to great lengths to get what they need. However, the act of foraging itself requires energy. Essentially, individuals must balance burning calories with obtaining them. To put it simply, foraging requires a strategy. Ecologists created the optimal foraging theory to model the circumstances in which an organism meets the optimum balance between energy expended foraging, i.e., two acorn&#39;s worth and the potential energy it can acquire like six new acorns. </p>
<p>One characteristic of foraging is that resources are not always spread out evenly within a habitat. More typically, resources are contained in patches that foragers must move between. So how exactly should foragers navigate these patches of resources? In 1976, evolutionary ecologist Eric L. Charnov came up with the marginal value theorem or MVT to explain how organisms optimize their for</p>

patch use in optimal foraging

<p class="jove_content">Patch use in optimal foraging explains how organisms balance food gain against the time and energy needed to search for it. Foraging is not limited to food. Animals also search for habitats, shelter, and mates. Each choice has costs and benefits. A resource provides a benefit, but finding and capturing it takes effort. Optimal Foraging Theory models how organisms reach the best balance between those costs and gains.</p>

<p class="jove_content">A key idea in this theory is that resources are often clumped into patches rather than spread evenly through an environment. Forest trees, for example, are more likely to occur in groups than as single, evenly spaced trees. Because of this patchiness, foragers must think about both the value of a patch and the distance to the next one. Moving between patches also has a cost. The Marginal Value Theorem helps explain when an organism should keep feeding in a patch and when it should move on.</p>

<p class="jove_content">The Marginal Value Theorem predicts that foragers should capture more prey in dense patches than in sparse ones. They should also spend more time in patches with more prey, and they should have a higher prey capture rate there. In dense environments, where patches are closer together, foragers should spend more time foraging than in sparse environments. A forager should leave a patch when the capture rate falls to the average rate for the whole environment. The time between the last prey capture and leaving the patch is called the Giving-Up-Time, or GUT.</p>

<p class="jove_content">The GUT should be the same across patches for a single forager. This prediction was tested with black-capped chickadees in a large aviary. The birds searched for mealworms hidden in artificial pine cones. They showed the same GUT in all patch types, and that GUT was inversely related to the average capture rate in the environment. The result supported the Marginal Value Theorem.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Optimal foraging matters because searching takes time, uses energy, and can expose organisms to predators and the elements. It also helps explain real-world ecology and conservation. Habitat loss, pollution, and other environmental changes can disrupt foraging and lower fitness. If habitats are destroyed, patches and even whole communities may disappear. That reduces the resources available to the rest of the ecosystem and can increase competition. Species at risk of extinction may be especially affected if most of their habitat is lost.</p>

<p class="jove_content">The same ideas also apply to human behavior. Humans reduce foraging needs through food storage, but they still forage in other ways. People may search for affordable housing, a well-paying job, or a suitable date. A study of general practitioners found that they foraged for information while diagnosing patients. They moved quickly between sources and used both high-density sources, such as the internet, and easier sources, including colleagues. Optimal Foraging Theory also helps explain how consumers search for products and information when making purchases.</p>

Patch Use in Optimal Foraging

Optimal Foraging
Organisms must acquire and use resources in their environment to survive. While food is one of the primary resources organisms must ...

Test your understanding of Optimal Foraging with this Biology assessment quiz on JoVE Lab Manual. Covers key concepts through video-based questions designed to evaluate student learning.

Optimal Foraging in Biology - Assessment Quiz | JoVE Lab Manual

Explore a classroom foraging simulation with pinto beans, rice buckets, capture rate, giving-up time, scaled GUT, and Marginal Value Theorem graphs.

Foraging Choice and Patch Use | JoVE K12

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Foraging Habitat Patches Setup

Learning Objectives

What is foraging?

What does Optimal Foraging Theory model?

Lab Prep

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