Practice question · Multiple choice
Patches are moved further apart so travel time between them doubles. The Marginal Value Theorem predicts the forager should now stay LONGER in each patch. Why does a more expensive journey make it worth staying in a patch that is steadily depleting?
Hints
- The leave-point is set by comparing this patch's current rate against something. Against what?
- Ask what doubling the travel time does to the average rate the whole habitat can deliver.
Show the answer
C. Because the forager maximises intake across the whole cycle.
Why
Leave when the patch's yield drops to the habitat-wide average, and travel time is part of that average because it yields nothing, so doubling it lowers the bar the patch must clear. Beware the sunk-cost route to the same answer: what matters is what the next journey costs, not what the last one did.
Practise Foraging and Optimal Foraging Theory
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