Hierarchical random walks in trace fossils and the origin of optimal search behavior.

ABSTRACT: Efficient searching is crucial for timely location of food and other resources. Recent studies show that diverse living animals use a theoretically optimal scale-free random search for sparse resources known as a Lévy walk, but little is known of the origins and evolution of foraging behavior and the search strategies of extinct organisms. Here, using simulations of self-avoiding trace fossil trails, we show that randomly introduced strophotaxis (U-turns)--initiated by obstructions such as self-trail avoidance or innate cueing--leads to random looping patterns with clustering across increasing scales that is consistent with the presence of Lévy walks. This predicts that optimal Lévy searches may emerge from simple behaviors observed in fossil trails. We then analyzed fossilized trails of b

SUBMITTER: Sims DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4121825 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature