The effect of patch depletion on meal patterns in rats
Article Abstract:
Laboratory rats' foraging behaviour was investigated in an environment when patches of food became steadily depleted, to examine the link between meal frequency and size. Meal size was affected by the cost of initial consumption, how fast patches of food were depleted and the cost of beginning a meal at a new food patch, with costs involving both time and effort. Higher depletion rates were linked to smaller meals, and higher access costs to bigger meals. Higher costs also meant total intake per day fell, as did the weight of the rats, indicating that alterations in the frequency of meals did not always compensate for changes in the size of meals.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1993
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Prey size and prey density affect meal patterns of rats in depleting and nondepleting patches
Article Abstract:
A foraging animal deciding on whether to leave a food patch where it is currently feeding is influenced by several factors, including the presence of predators. Most foraging models fail to take account of the non-continuous nature of feeding. A new study compares meal patterns in rats feeding in depleting and non-depleting patches. The study shows that rats ate more food in depleting patches where both the rate of return and cost of travel was high. In nondepleting patches, the size of meals was unaffected by the rate of return.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1999
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Rats' meal-ending rules in depicting patches
Article Abstract:
A study of the feeding patterns of rats reveals that rats tend toward meal options that minimize feeding costs. The testing environment was set up with a dense feeding patch and a sparse feeding patch. These two types of patches were each set up in environments where the costs of receiving pellets were high and low, called poor and rich environments. The rats studied ate larger meals in the better habitat in the sparse environment because the travel costs involved were higher.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1995
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