Foraging Techniques

Various foraging relationships were determined through conduction of this experiment. Three different experiments were carried out in order to effectively meet the terms of the objective. A wooden foraging board was used to stimulate a foraging patch. This consisted of a rectangular wooden board, approximately 1’ x 1.5’, with approximately 75-80 shallow holes randomly drilled into one flat face. The randomly situated holes impeded the predator’s ability to forage in a systematic and planned manner. The prey used in this particular experiment consisted of split peas and navy beans, which were randomly placed into the holes of the foraging board. Stopwatches were used to time the forager during different experimental foraging bouts. The predator (an ecology student), would have to forage with their eyes closed while the other student would time how long it took the predator (forager) to obtain the prey. The forager would use forceps, which simulated the prey’s ability to avoid capture. Two ecology students conducted all of the experiments together within a 3-hour time frame.
No preparations were required prior to the experiment apart from the previously collected prey representations; forceps, and manufactured wooden foraging board. The first experiment was a measurement of the rate of prey capture as a function of prey density. This relationship is referred to as the functional response. One of the conductors (experimental forager) closed their eyes and were given the forceps. The other would use the stopwatch to record how much time had elapsed. Two split peas (prey) were then randomly dispersed in various holes of the foraging board. The forager used their fingers to forage for prey in the holes. When a prey was detected, the forager would use forceps to remove the prey. For every prey that was captured and removed, a new prey was randomly placed into another hole of the foraging board (by the second conductor) to keep the prey density constant. The foraging