Abundant resources can trigger reduced consumption: Unveiling the paradox of excessive scrounging.

ABSTRACT: In ecological contexts, it is conventionally expected that increased food availability would boost consumption, particularly when animals prioritize maximizing their food intake. This paper challenges this conventional wisdom by conducting an in-depth game-theoretic analysis of a basic foraging model, in which animals must choose between intensive food searching as producers or moderate searching while relying on group members as scroungers. Our study reveals that, under certain circumstances, increasing food availability can amplify the inclination to scrounge to such an extent that it leads to a reduction in animals' food consumption compared to scenarios with limited food availability. We further illustrate a similar phenomenon in a model capturing free-riding dynamics among workers in

SUBMITTER: Vacus R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10990140 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature