Theory of Feeding Strategies

Natural history is replete with observations on feeding, yet only recently have investigators begun to treat feeding as a device whose performance­ as measured in net energy yield/feeding time or some other units assumed commensurate with fitness-may be maximized by natural selection (44, 1 13, 135, 156, 181) . The primary task of a theory of feeding strategies is to specify for a given animal that complex of behavior and morphology best suited to gather food energy in a particular environment. The task is one, therefore, of optimization, and like all optimization problems, it may be tri­ sected: 1. Choosing a currency: What is to be maximized or minimized? 2. Choosing the appropriate cost-benefit functions: What is the mathematical form of the set of expressions with the currency as the dependent variable? 3. Solving for the optimum: What computational technique best finds ex­ trema of the cost-benefit function? In this review, most of the following section is devoted to possible answers to the first problem. Then four key aspects of feeding strategies will be considered: (a) the optimal diet, (b) the optimal foraging space, (c) the optimal foraging period, and (d) the optimal foraging-group size. For each, possible cost-benefit formulations will be discussed and compared, and predictions derived from these will be matched with data from the literature on feeding. Because the third problem is an aspect of applied mathematics, it will be mostly ignored. Throughout, emphasis will be placed on strategic aspects of feeding rather than on what Holling (75) has called tactics.