A general dynamical theory of foraging in animals

Abstract

This paper provides a minimally simple theory that accounts for the foraging behaviour of animals. It presents three separate systems of differential equations that predict the selection of diets from various types of food, and also the time-budgets of the occupancy of patches of food without, and with regeneration of food. The theory subsumes the whole of optimal foraging theory as one special case of foraging behaviour defined by the physiological requirements of animals. The theory explains foraging in terms of both the acquisition of food and the utilization of food in the maintenance of life.