The Role of Outcome Unit Size in the Social Foraging Strategies of Rats

The distribution of foraging strategies and associated activities of Wistar rats was examined, with food outcomes presented in small vs. large units. Groups of 4 rats foraged for food in a 4 x 3 array of covered holes, some containing 4 g of food. For some groups, food consisted of shelled sunflower seeds (small units); for other groups, food consisted of 3 pellets of chow (large units). Foraging strategies were classified as either production (seeking patches with food) or scrounging (tracking conspecifics). Production strategies were more common among groups that foraged for pellets instead of seeds. Producing food was highly correlated with contacting gates covering holes, whereas scrounging for food was highly correlated with following others in the group. The prevalence of activities associated with each foraging strategy was highly correlated with the proportion of time spent consuming food obtained from each activity (i.e., produced vs. scrounged food). Taken together, these findings suggest that, similar to other species, the finder’s advantage (low with small units, high with large units) modulates social foraging strategies in rats. A simple outcome-strategy feedback mechanism appears to mediate this modulation.

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Individual-learning ability predicts social-foraging strategy in house sparrows

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.1151 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 278 (1705) ◽

pp. 582-589 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Edith Katsnelson ◽

Uzi Motro ◽

Marcus W. Feldman ◽

Arnon Lotem

Keyword(s):

Personal Information ◽

Passer Domesticus ◽

Learning Task ◽

Foraging Strategy ◽

Individual Learning ◽

Social Foraging ◽

Learning Ability ◽

Foraging Strategies ◽

Learning Abilities ◽

The Individual

Social foragers can use either a ‘producer’ strategy, which involves searching for food, or a ‘scrounger’ strategy, which involves joining others' food discoveries. While producers rely on personal information and past experience, we may ask whether the tendency to forage as a producer is related to being a better learner. To answer this question, we hand-raised house sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) nestlings that upon independence were given an individual-learning task that required them to associate colour signal and food presence. Following the testing phase, all fledglings were released into a shared aviary, and their social-foraging tendencies were measured. We found a significant positive correlation between individual's performance in the individual-learning task and subsequent tendency to use searching (producing) behaviour. Individual-learning score was negatively correlated with initial fear of the test apparatus and with body weight. However, the correlation between individual learning and searching remained significant after controlling for these variables. Since it was measured before the birds entered a social group, individual-learning ability could not be the outcome of being a producer. However, the two traits may be initially associated, or individual learning could facilitate producing behaviour. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that associates individual-learning abilities with social-foraging strategies in animal groups.

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Abyssal traces and megafauna: comparison of productivity, diversity and density in the Arctic and Antarctic

Paleobiology ◽

10.1017/s0094837300005844 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 171-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Jennifer A. Kitchell ◽

James F. Kitchell ◽

G. Leonard Johnson ◽

Kenneth L. Hunkins

Keyword(s):

Food Availability ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Foraging Strategy ◽

The Arctic ◽

Foraging Strategies ◽

Behavioral Complexity ◽

Productivity Differential ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Trace Density

The megafauna and associated behavioral traces of two deep-sea benthic environments, the central Arctic and Antarctic, with a surface primary productivity differential of 104 were compared to assess the role of food availability in foraging strategy and community structure. Bottom photographs, analyzed for megafauna and trace density and diversity at comparable depths in the Arctic Canada Basin and the Antarctic Bellingshausen Basin, indicated that trace frequency was inversely proportional to organism density but that trace diversity directly reflected organism diversity. Those traces identified in the fossil record to represent efficient foraging strategies, i.e., the Nereites facies, were conspicuously absent at all depths in the Arctic and present at all depths in the Antarctic, in contradiction of the paradigm of increasing behavioral complexity and sediment exploitation as food availability decreases. Presence or absence of surface-grazing organisms seems to exert a greater influence on trace diversity than depth or nutrient supply. Trace density, however, may reflect episodic sedimentation events which intermittently influence the deep-sea trophic regime.

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Discovery and defense define the social foraging strategy of Neotropical arboreal ants

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology ◽

10.1007/s00265-018-2519-1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 (7) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Flávio Camarota ◽

Heraldo L. Vasconcelos ◽

Elmo B. A. Koch ◽

Scott Powell

Keyword(s):

Foraging Strategy ◽

Social Foraging ◽

Arboreal Ants ◽

The Social

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Social Representations and Commitment

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000317 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 233-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Eric Bonetto ◽

Fabien Girandola ◽

Grégory Lo Monaco

Keyword(s):

Social Representations ◽

Social Representation ◽

Second Line ◽

Review Of The Literature ◽

First Line ◽

Research Perspectives ◽

The Social ◽

Bibliographic Search ◽

English Articles

Abstract. This contribution consists of a critical review of the literature about the articulation of two traditionally separated theoretical fields: social representations and commitment. Besides consulting various works and communications, a bibliographic search was carried out (between February and December, 2016) on various databases using the keywords “commitment” and “social representation,” in the singular and in the plural, in French and in English. Articles published in English or in French, that explicitly made reference to both terms, were included. The relations between commitment and social representations are approached according to two approaches or complementary lines. The first line follows the role of commitment in the representational dynamics: how can commitment transform the representations? This articulation gathers most of the work on the topic. The second line envisages the social representations as determinants of commitment procedures: how can these representations influence the effects of commitment procedures? This literature review will identify unexploited tracks, as well as research perspectives for both areas of research.

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