Using Cox’s Proportional Hazard Models to Implement Optimal Strategies: An Example from Behavioral Ecology

Authors

Brigitte Tenhumberg, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
M. A. Keller, University of Adelaide
Hugh P. Possingham, University of QueenslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2001

Citation

Mathematical and Computer Modelling 33 (2001), pp. 597–607.

Comments

Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

Simple behavioral rules, or “rules of thumb,” which lead to behavior that closely approximates an optimal strategy, have generated a lot of recent interest in the field of foraging behavior. In this paper, we derive rules of thumb from a stochastic simulation model in which the foragers behave optimally. We use a particular biological system: the patch leaving behavior of a parasitoid. We simulate parasitoids whose patch leaving behavior is determined by a stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) model, while allowing parasitoids to make mistakes in their estimation of host density when arriving in a patch We use Cox’s proportional hazards models to obtain statistical rules of thumb from the simulated behavior. This represents the first use of a proportional hazard approximation to generate rules of thumb from a complex optimal strategy.