The Effect of Resource Aggregation at Different Scales: Optimal Foraging Behavior of Cotesia rubecula

Authors

Brigitte Tenhumberg, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Michael A. Keller, University of AdelaideFollow
Andrew J. Tyre, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Hugh P. Possingham, University of QueenslandFollow

Date of this Version

11-2001

Citation

The American Naturalist vol. 158, no. 5, November 2001, pp. 505-518

Comments

Copyright (c) 2001 by The University of Chicago. Used by permission.

Abstract

Resources can be aggregated both within and between patches. In this article, we examine how aggregation at these different scales influences the behavior and performance of foragers. We developed an optimal foraging model of the foraging behavior of the parasitoid wasp Cotesia rubecula parasitizing the larvae of the cabbage butterfly Pieris rapae. The optimal behavior was found using stochastic dynamic programming. The most interesting and novel result is that the effect of resource aggregation within and between patches depends on the degree of aggregation both within and between patches as well as on the local host density in the occupied patch, but lifetime reproductive success depends only on aggregation within patches. Our findings have profound implications for the way in which we measure heterogeneity at different scales and model the response of organisms to spatial heterogeneity.