Combining information about the cumulative amount of energy that a forager is gaining as it remains in a patch with information about, for example, the travel time to the next patch, one can determine the best time (the marginal value) for an animal to leave the current patch and move on to the next one. If an animal leaves the patch before this time, it will ________; if it waits to leave after this time, it will _________.
A) be able to take advantage of its peers' having already located the next patch; benefit by beating its competitors to a new food source.
B) be traveling when it could still be profitably foraging in the current patch; waste time continuing to search for food in an already depleted area.
C) benefit by beating its competitors to a new food source; be able to take advantage of its peers' having already located the next patch.
D) waste time continuing to search for food in an already depleted area; be traveling when it could still be profitably foraging in the current patch.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Leaving a patch before the optimal time means missing out on valuable foraging opportunities, while leaving too late means spending time in a depleted area instead of moving to a new resource-rich patch.

Combining Information About the Cumulative Amount of Energy That a Forager