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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== French ''fourrage'', Old French ''feurre fodder''. Common Romance ''fodro'', of Germanic origin: fod...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Urban-foraging.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
French ''fourrage'', Old French ''feurre fodder''. Common Romance ''fodro'', of Germanic origin: fodder -food in general.
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_century 15th Century]
==Description==
*1: to strip of provisions : collect forage from
*2: to secure by foraging <foraged a chicken for the feast>
:''intransitive verb''
*1: to [[wander]] in search of forage or [[food]]
*2: to secure forage (as for horses) by stripping the [[country]]
*3: ravage, raid
*4: to make a search : rummage
==Description==
'''Foraging''' is the [[act]] of searching for [[food]]. As a field of [[study]], foraging theory is a branch of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_ecology behavioral ecology] that studies the foraging behavior of [[animals]] in [[response]] to the [[environment]] in which the animal lives. Foraging theory considers the foraging behavior of animals in reference to the payoff that an animal obtains from different foraging [[options]]. Foraging theory [[predicts]] that the foraging options that deliver the highest payoff should be [[favored]] by foraging animals because it will have the highest [[fitness]] payoff. More specifically, the highest [[ratio]] of energetic gain to cost while foraging. [[Human]] [[societies]] that subsist mainly by foraging wild [[plants]] and animals are known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer hunter-gatherers].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_foraging_theory Optimal foraging theory] was first proposed in 1966, in two papers published independently, by Robert MacArthur and Eric Pianka, and by J. Merritt Emlen. This [[theory]] [[argued]] that because of the key importance of successful foraging to an [[individual]]'s [[survival]], it should be possible to [[predict]] foraging behavior by using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_theory decision theory] to determine the [[behavior]] that would be shown by an "optimal forager" - one with [[perfect]] [[knowledge]] of what to do to maximize usable [[food]] intake. While the behavior of real animals [[inevitably]] departs from that of the optimal forager, optimal foraging theory has proved very useful in [[developing]] [[hypotheses]] for describing real foraging behavior. Departures from optimality often help to identify constraints either in the animal's [[behavioral]] or [[cognitive]] repertoire, or in the [[environment]], that had not previously been [[suspected]]. With those constraints identified, foraging behavior often does approach the optimal pattern even if it is not [[identical]] to it.
There are many versions of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_foraging_theory optimal foraging theory] that are relevant to different foraging situation. These include:
*The optimal [[diet]] model, which [[describes]] the [[behavior]] of a forager that encounters different types of prey and must choose which to [[attack]]
*Patch selection theory, which describes the behavior of a forager whose prey is [[concentrated]] in small areas with a significant [[travel]] time between them
*Central place foraging theory, which describes the behavior of a forager that must return to a particular place in order to consume its [[food]], or perhaps to hoard it or feed it to a [[mate]] or [[offspring]].
In recent decades, optimal foraging theory has frequently been applied to the foraging behaviour of [[human]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer hunter-gatherers]. Although this is [[controversial]], coming under some of the same kinds of [[attack]] as the application of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology socio-biological] theory to human behaviour, it does [[represent]] a [[convergence]] of [[ideas]] from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_ecology human ecology] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_anthropology economic anthropology] that has proved fruitful and interesting.
[[Category: Biology]]
==Origin==
French ''fourrage'', Old French ''feurre fodder''. Common Romance ''fodro'', of Germanic origin: fodder -food in general.
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_century 15th Century]
==Description==
*1: to strip of provisions : collect forage from
*2: to secure by foraging <foraged a chicken for the feast>
:''intransitive verb''
*1: to [[wander]] in search of forage or [[food]]
*2: to secure forage (as for horses) by stripping the [[country]]
*3: ravage, raid
*4: to make a search : rummage
==Description==
'''Foraging''' is the [[act]] of searching for [[food]]. As a field of [[study]], foraging theory is a branch of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_ecology behavioral ecology] that studies the foraging behavior of [[animals]] in [[response]] to the [[environment]] in which the animal lives. Foraging theory considers the foraging behavior of animals in reference to the payoff that an animal obtains from different foraging [[options]]. Foraging theory [[predicts]] that the foraging options that deliver the highest payoff should be [[favored]] by foraging animals because it will have the highest [[fitness]] payoff. More specifically, the highest [[ratio]] of energetic gain to cost while foraging. [[Human]] [[societies]] that subsist mainly by foraging wild [[plants]] and animals are known as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer hunter-gatherers].
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_foraging_theory Optimal foraging theory] was first proposed in 1966, in two papers published independently, by Robert MacArthur and Eric Pianka, and by J. Merritt Emlen. This [[theory]] [[argued]] that because of the key importance of successful foraging to an [[individual]]'s [[survival]], it should be possible to [[predict]] foraging behavior by using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_theory decision theory] to determine the [[behavior]] that would be shown by an "optimal forager" - one with [[perfect]] [[knowledge]] of what to do to maximize usable [[food]] intake. While the behavior of real animals [[inevitably]] departs from that of the optimal forager, optimal foraging theory has proved very useful in [[developing]] [[hypotheses]] for describing real foraging behavior. Departures from optimality often help to identify constraints either in the animal's [[behavioral]] or [[cognitive]] repertoire, or in the [[environment]], that had not previously been [[suspected]]. With those constraints identified, foraging behavior often does approach the optimal pattern even if it is not [[identical]] to it.
There are many versions of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_foraging_theory optimal foraging theory] that are relevant to different foraging situation. These include:
*The optimal [[diet]] model, which [[describes]] the [[behavior]] of a forager that encounters different types of prey and must choose which to [[attack]]
*Patch selection theory, which describes the behavior of a forager whose prey is [[concentrated]] in small areas with a significant [[travel]] time between them
*Central place foraging theory, which describes the behavior of a forager that must return to a particular place in order to consume its [[food]], or perhaps to hoard it or feed it to a [[mate]] or [[offspring]].
In recent decades, optimal foraging theory has frequently been applied to the foraging behaviour of [[human]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter-gatherer hunter-gatherers]. Although this is [[controversial]], coming under some of the same kinds of [[attack]] as the application of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology socio-biological] theory to human behaviour, it does [[represent]] a [[convergence]] of [[ideas]] from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_ecology human ecology] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_anthropology economic anthropology] that has proved fruitful and interesting.
[[Category: Biology]]
