Practice question · Put in order
Order the sequence a forager follows under the Marginal Value Theorem.
- Leave for a new patch, paying the travel-time cost.
- Enter a fresh patch where the capture rate is high.
- The marginal rate falls to the environment's average rate.
- Take the easiest, most profitable items first.
- As the patch depletes, the local capture rate steadily declines.
Hints
- The local rate is high on entry and falls as the patch empties.
- Departure happens exactly when the falling local rate meets the environmental average.
Show the answer
- Enter a fresh patch where the capture rate is high.
- Take the easiest, most profitable items first.
- As the patch depletes, the local capture rate steadily declines.
- The marginal rate falls to the environment's average rate.
- Leave for a new patch, paying the travel-time cost.
Why
On entry the rate is high; easy items go first; the rate declines with depletion; when it hits the environmental average the forager leaves. Departure is triggered by the marginal rate reaching the average, not by the patch running dry.
Practise Foraging and Optimal Foraging Theory
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