http://osenberglab.ecology.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Charnov-1976-TPB.pdf

Optimal foraging, the marginal value theorem.

Beginning with Emlen (1966) and MacArthur and Pianka (1966) and extending through the last ten years, several authors have sought to predict the foraging behavior of animals by means of mathematical models. These models are very similar,in that they all assume that the fitness of a foraging animal is a function of the efficiency of foraging measured in terms of some "currency" (Schoener, 1971) -usually energy- and that natural selection has resulted in animals that forage so as to maximize this fitness. As a result of these similarities, the models have become known as "optimal foraging models"; and the theory that embodies them, "optimal foraging theory." The situations to which optimal foraging theory has been applied, with the exception of a few recent studies, can be divided into the following four categories: (1) choice by an animal of which food types to eat (i.e., optimal diet); (2) choice of which patch type to feed in (i.e., optimal patch choice); (3) optimal allocation of time to different patch...

/pdf/optimal-foraging-a-selective-review-of-theory-and-tests-3ar3ls90ph.pdf

Optimal foraging: A selective review of theory and tests

Beginning with Emlen (1966) and MacArthur and Pianka (1966) and extending through the last ten years, several authors have sought to predict the foraging behavior of animals by means of mathematical models. These models are very similar,in that they all assume that the fitness of a foraging animal is a function of the efficiency of foraging measured in terms of some "currency" (Schoener, 1971) -usually energy- and that natural selection has resulted in animals that forage so as to maximize this fitness. As a result of these similarities, the models have become known as "optimal foraging models"; and the theory that embodies them, "optimal foraging theory." The situations to which optimal foraging theory has been applied, with the exception of a few recent studies, can be divided into the following four categories: (1) choice by an animal of which food types to eat (i.e., optimal diet); (2) choice of which patch type to feed in (i.e., optimal patch choice); (3) optimal allocation of time to different patches; and (4) optimal patterns and speed of movements. In this review we discuss each of these categories separately, dealing with both the theoretical developments and the data that permit tests of the predictions. The review is selective in the sense that we emphasize studies that either develop testable predictions or that attempt to test predictions in a precise quantitative manner. We also discuss what we see to be some of the future developments in the area of optimal foraging theory and how this theory can be related to other areas of biology. Our general conclusion is that the simple models so far formulated are supported are supported reasonably well by available data and that we are optimistic about the value both now and in the future of optimal foraging theory. We argue, however, that these simple models will requre much modification, espicially to deal with situations that either cannot easily be put into one or another of the above four categories or entail currencies more complicated that just energy.

Citation classic - optimal foraging - a selective review of theory and tests

In the Hamadryas baboon, males are substantially larger than females. A troop of baboons is subdivided into a number of ‘one-male groups’, consisting of one adult male and one or more females with their young. The male prevents any of ‘his’ females from moving too far from him. Kummer (1971) performed the following experiment. Two males, A and B, previously unknown to each other, were placed in a large enclosure. Male A was free to move about the enclosure, but male B was shut in a small cage, from which he could observe A but not interfere. A female, unknown to both males, was then placed in the enclosure. Within 20 minutes male A had persuaded the female to accept his ownership. Male B was then released into the open enclosure. Instead of challenging male A , B avoided any contact, accepting A’s ownership.

Evolution and the Theory of Games

Parasitoids and predators of herbivores have evolved and function within a multitrophic context. Consequently, their physiology and behavior are in­ fluenced by elements from other trophic levels such as their herbivore victim (second trophic level) and its plant food (first trophic level) (126) . Natural enemies base their foraging decisions on information from these different trophic levels, and chemical information plays an important role. This review is restricted to the ecology of chemical information from the first and second trophic levels. The importance of so-called infochemicals, a subcategory of semiochemicals, in foraging by parasitoids and predators has been well documented (e.g. reviewed in 31, 78, Il l , 183, 185) , and we do not intend to repeat the details. But because of a lack of testable hypotheses, all this research is conducted rather haphazardly: the total puzzle of infochemical use has not been solved for any natural enemy species. Here we approach the use of infochemicals by natural enemies from an evolutionary and ecological standpoint. Our basic concept is that information from the first and second trophic levels differs in availability and in reliability, a difference that shapes the way infochemicals are used by a species. We generate hypotheses on (a)

/pdf/ecology-of-infochemical-use-by-natural-enemies-in-a-klyl2klq7j.pdf

Ecology of infochemical use by natural enemies in a tritrophic context.

The substance produced by the mandibular gland complex (HQMC) of queen honey bees is considered to be responsible for retinue formation in honey bees, Apis mellifera L.1–3. The retinue response includes the licking and antennating behaviour which signals the presence of a dominant reproductive queen and thereby establishes and stabilizes the social fabric of the colony. Despite 25 years of research, none of the known constituents of HQMC extract4,5 has been effective in eliciting full retinue behaviour. We report that the mandibular-gland-based retinue response is mediated by five semiochemicals. Each component is weakly active alone, but the complete blend imparts activity equivalent to HQMC extract at a level as low as 10–7 of that present in a queen.

Semiochemical basis of the retinue response to queen honey bees

This review summarizes the literature related to the chemical ecology of the Cerambycidae and provides a brief overview of cerambycid biology, ecology, economic significance, and management. Beetles in the family Cerambycidae have assumed increasing prominence as pests of forest and shade trees, shrubs, and raw wood products, and as vectors of tree diseases. Exotic species associated with solid wood packing materials have been notable tree killers in North American urban and peri-urban forests. In forested ecosystems native species respond to disturbances such as fires and windstorms, and initiate the biodeterioration of woody tissue. Eggs are laid by females, on or through the bark surface of stem and branch tissue of moribund, recently killed or decomposing woody plants; larval cerambycids (roundheaded woodborers) typically feed in the phloem and later in the xylem. Females will also, in some cases, select living hosts, e.g. adult conifer and angiosperm trees, for oviposition. Research on the chemical ecology of over 70 species has revealed many examples of attractive kairomones (such as floral volatiles, smoke volatiles, trunk and leaf volatiles, and bark beetle pheromones), repellents and deterrents, oviposition stimulants, short- and long-range sex pheromones, and defensive substances. Emerging generalities are that attractants tend to be monoterpenoids and phenolic esters; oviposition stimulants are monoterpenoids and flavanoids; short-range sex pheromones are female-produced, methyl-branched cuticular hydrocarbons; and long-range sex pheromones are male-produced α-hydroxy ketones and (α,β)-diols ranging in length from 6 to 10 carbons. The latter compounds appear to originate from glands in the male thorax; putative defensive substances originate from metasternal secretory pores or mandibular glands. In one unusual case, a flightless, subterranean female that attacks sugar cane produces a sex pheromone that is derived from the amino acid isoleucine. With significantly more than 35,000 species of Cerambycidae worldwide, these generalities will be subject to change as more species are examined.

A review of the chemical ecology of the Cerambycidae (Coleoptera)

In laboratory and field bioassays, Gnathotrichus sulcatus responded to sulcatol (6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol) only when both enantiomers were present. Response was greater to racemic sulcatol than to a mixture (65 : 35) of S-(+) and R-(-) enantiomers, the naturally occurring isomeric ratio. Enantiomer-specific active sites on receptor proteins in the same or different cells are implicated.

Gnathotrichus sulcatus: synergistic response to enantiomers of the aggregation pheromone sulcatol.

Aggregation pheromones of two asian palm Weevils, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and R. vulneratus

Five principal semiochemicals were field tested in multiple funnel traps for behavioral activity against Dendroctonusponderosae infesting lodgepole pine, Pinuscontorta var. latifolia Engelmann, in British Columbia. The basic experimental design was to test each compound by adding it in varying concentration or enantiomeric composition to a blend of other semiochemicals. (−)-trans-Verbenol was attractive to both sexes. (±)-exo-Brevicomin and (±)-frontalin (in one of two experiments) were attractive with other semiochemicals to females at a release rate of 0.05 mg/24 h. At higher release rates (±)-exo-brevicomin was inhibitory to males, and frontalin was inhibitory to both sexes. Thus both serve as multifunctional pheromones. For neither exo-brevicomin nor frontalin were the separate enantiomers attractive at the low release rate, suggesting that they had an additive effect. However, at the high release rate both enantiomers mimicked the inhibitory effect of the racemates. Verbenone acted as an antiaggregat...

Response of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonusponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), to five semiochemicals in British Columbia lodgepole pine forests

John H. Borden

Papers

Semiochemical basis of the retinue response to queen honey bees

A review of the chemical ecology of the Cerambycidae (Coleoptera)

Gnathotrichus sulcatus: synergistic response to enantiomers of the aggregation pheromone sulcatol.

Aggregation pheromones of two asian palm Weevils, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus and R. vulneratus

Response of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonusponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), to five semiochemicals in British Columbia lodgepole pine forests