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The effect of competitors and distance on central place foraging eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus.

Giraldeau, Luc-Alain; Kramer, Donald L.; Deslandes, Isabelle et Lair, Helene (1994). The effect of competitors and distance on central place foraging eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus. Animal Behaviour , vol. 47 , nº 3. pp. 621-632. DOI: 10.1006/anbe.1994.1085.

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Résumé

Loading functions, travel tiroes, and load sizes of nine eastern chipmunks, Tamias striatus, collecting sunflower seeds from uniform spatial arrays were examined in the presence and absence of conspecific competitors at different distances from their burrows. Seed collection times increased with the number of seeds collected, resulting in negatively accelerated loading functions. For a given number of seeds, collection times increased in the presence of competitors, due primarily to time spent alert or engaged in interactions with other individuals. Seed collection times decreased with distance from the burrow. In the presence of competitors, travel speed was faster. There were large individual differences in loading functions but not in travel times. The qualitative predictions of the central place foraging model were supported: load sizes increased with distance from the central place and decreased in the presence of competitors. The usual methods of quantitative testing were impossible because loading functions and travel times varied with individual, distance and competitor presence. Calculations based on the seed collecting times of each individual in each situation, however, showed that observed rates of food delivery to the burrow were higher than those that would have been achieved by taking smaller loads. Calculations based on an extrapolation of the relationship between seed collection time and seed number for each individual in each situation suggested that observed rates of food delivery were lower than those that would have been achieved by taking larger loads. Thus, chipmunks appeared to take loads that were smaller than those needed to maximize their rate of food delivery.

Type de document: Article
Mots-clés libres: central place foraging; eastern chipmunk; optimal foraging
Centre: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
Date de dépôt: 02 mai 2018 15:32
Dernière modification: 11 mai 2018 13:16
URI: https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/7028

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