Foraging in a tidally structured environment by red knots (Calidris canutus): Ideal, but not free

Foraging in a tidally structured environment by red knots (Calidris canutus): Ideal, but not free

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Article ID: iaor20082546
Country: United States
Volume: 87
Issue: 5
Start Page Number: 1189
End Page Number: 1202
Publication Date: May 2006
Journal: Ecology
Authors: , , ,
Keywords: programming: dynamic, behaviour
Abstract:

Besides the ‘normal’ challenge of obtaining adequate intake rates in a patchy and dangerous world, shorebirds foraging in intertidal habitats face additional environmental hurdles. The tide forces them to commute between a roosting site and feeding grounds, twice a day. Moreover, because intertidal food patches are not all available at the same time, shorebirds should follow itineraries along the best patches available at a given time. Finally, shorebirds need additional energy stores in order to survive unpredictable periods of bad weather, during which food patches are covered by extreme tides. In order to model such tide-specific decisions, we applied stochastic dynamic programming in a spatially explicit context. We suggest that our modeling approach may be applicable in other systems where resources fluctuate in space and time.

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