The need to acquire information affects foraging decisions and influences distribution patterns and resource consumption. I am interested in how animals may allocate their foraging effort in response to experiences of local resource conditions, as environments vary in time and space.

Foragers need to make apparently complex decisions on which prey to select, where to forage, and for how long. Animals gain information by exploring their surroundings, for instance by sampling different prey types or resource patches. Foragers that are able to learn from experience may track changes in environmental conditions. Individuals however, pay for information by spending energy and time, forgoing opportunities to gain resources elsewhere. The value of learning therefore depends on the benefits an animal obtains from using information and the costs of collecting it.

When to learn?

Changes in resource availability influence both the quality of information that a forager may obtain and the utility of this knowledge. When there is little environmental variation, fixed behavioural strategies may suffice. In temporally changing environments, flexible strategies may be advantageous and this enhances the potential benefit of learning. The action of individuals may themselves alter the quality of information, persistence of signals, and the value of exploring the habitat. Through the formulation of realistic behavioural strategies, it is possible to interpret how environmental and ecological factors affect competition between individuals that utilises different information harvesting strategies.