Nahua mushroom gatherers use area-restricted search strategies that conform to marginal value theorem predictions.

ABSTRACT: We develop a method of analysis for testing the marginal value theorem (MVT) in natural settings that does not require an independent definition or mapping of patches. We draw on recent theoretical work on area-restricted search (ARS) that links turning-angle and step-size changes to geographically localized encounter-rates. These models allow us to estimate "giving-up times" using encounter-annotated GPS tracking data. Applied to a case study of Nahua mushroom foragers, these models identify distinct forms of intrapatch and interpatch search behavior, with intrapatch search transitioning to interpatch search after a predictable interval of time since the last encounter with a harvested mushroom. Our empirical estimate of giving-up time coincides with the theoretically optimal giving-up ti

SUBMITTER: Pacheco-Cobos L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6535025 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature