Integrating the roles of information and competitive ability on the spatial distribution of social foragers.

Abstract

Understanding and predicting the spatial distribution of social foragers among patchily distributed resources is a problem that has been addressed with numerous approaches over the 30 yr since the ideal free distribution (IFD) was first introduced. The two main approaches involve perceptual constraints and unequal competitors. Here we present a model of social foragers choosing among resource patches. Each forager makes a probabilistic choice on the basis of the information acquired through past foraging experiences. Food acquisition is determined by the forager's competitive ability. This model predicts that perceptual constraints have a greater influence on the spatial distribution of foragers than unequal competitive abilities but that competitive ability plays an important role in determining an individual's information state and behavior. Better competitors have access to more information; consequently, we find that competitive abilities and perceptual constraints are integrated through the social environment occupied by individual foragers. Relative competitive abilities influence the forager's information state, and the ability to use information determines the resulting spatial distribution.