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A Test of the Energy Maximization Premise of Optimal Foraging Theory

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Foraging Behavior

Abstract

A key premise of optimal foraging theory is that animals have, through the process of natural selection, evolved behaviors that tend to maximize their rate of energy intake (see Pyke, Pulliam, & Charnov 1977; Krebs 1978, for reviews). Therefore, a predator determines the relative costs and benefits of feeding on different prey types, and chooses the prey type that maximizes food value and predator survival. The predator does not necessarily make conscious decisions (Krebs 1978). Rather, the decision is the result of partially or wholly genetically controlled behavior shaped by evolution.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoology Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    David B. Campbell

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  1. David B. Campbell
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Alan C. Kamil

  2. Oxford University, Oxford, England

    John R. Krebs

  3. University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    H. Ronald Pulliam

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© 1987 Plenum Press, New York

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Campbell, D.B. (1987). A Test of the Energy Maximization Premise of Optimal Foraging Theory. In: Kamil, A.C., Krebs, J.R., Pulliam, H.R. (eds) Foraging Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1839-2_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9027-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1839-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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