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Mizumoto N, Dobata S. Adaptive switch to sexually dimorphic movements by partner-seeking termites. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaau6108. [PMID: 31223644 PMCID: PMC6584256 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau6108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
How should females and males move to search for partners whose exact location is unknown? Theory predicts that the answer depends on what they know about where targets can be found, raising the question of how actual animals update their mate search patterns to increase encounter probability when conditions change. Here, we show that termites adaptively alternate between sexually monomorphic and dimorphic movements during mate search. When the location of potential mates was completely unpredictable, both sexes moved in straight lines to explore widely. In contrast, when the stray partner was at least nearby, males moved while females paused. Data-based simulations confirmed that these movements increase the rate of successful encounters. The context-dependent switch of search modes is a key to enhance random encounters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nobuaki Mizumoto
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, ISTB1, 423, East Mall, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Shigeto Dobata
- Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
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Martínez-García R, Calabrese JM, López C. Online games: a novel approach to explore how partial information influences human random searches. Sci Rep 2017; 7:40029. [PMID: 28059115 PMCID: PMC5216393 DOI: 10.1038/srep40029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Accepted: 11/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Many natural processes rely on optimizing the success ratio of a search process. We use an experimental setup consisting of a simple online game in which players have to find a target hidden on a board, to investigate how the rounds are influenced by the detection of cues. We focus on the search duration and the statistics of the trajectories traced on the board. The experimental data are explained by a family of random-walk-based models and probabilistic analytical approximations. If no initial information is given to the players, the search is optimized for cues that cover an intermediate spatial scale. In addition, initial information about the extension of the cues results, in general, in faster searches. Finally, strategies used by informed players turn into non-stationary processes in which the length of e ach displacement evolves to show a well-defined characteristic scale that is not found in non-informed searches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo Martínez-García
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Justin M. Calabrese
- Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, VA 22630, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Cristóbal López
- IFISC, Instituto de Física Interdisciplinar y Sistemas Complejos (CSIC-UIB), E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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Bartumeus F, Campos D, Ryu WS, Lloret-Cabot R, Méndez V, Catalan J. Foraging success under uncertainty: search tradeoffs and optimal space use. Ecol Lett 2016; 19:1299-1313. [PMID: 27634051 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2016] [Revised: 04/16/2016] [Accepted: 07/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the structural complexity and the main drivers of animal search behaviour is pivotal to foraging ecology. Yet, the role of uncertainty as a generative mechanism of movement patterns is poorly understood. Novel insights from search theory suggest that organisms should collect and assess new information from the environment by producing complex exploratory strategies. Based on an extension of the first passage time theory, and using simple equations and simulations, we unveil the elementary heuristics behind search behaviour. In particular, we show that normal diffusion is not enough for determining optimal exploratory behaviour but anomalous diffusion is required. Searching organisms go through two critical sequential phases (approach and detection) and experience fundamental search tradeoffs that may limit their encounter rates. Using experimental data, we show that biological search includes elements not fully considered in contemporary physical search theory. In particular, the need to consider search movement as a non-stationary process that brings the organism from one informational state to another. For example, the transition from remaining in an area to departing from it may occur through an exploratory state where cognitive search is challenged. Therefore, a more comprehensive view of foraging ecology requires including current perspectives about movement under uncertainty.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederic Bartumeus
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300, Girona, Spain. .,CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Barcelona, Spain. .,ICREA, Pg Lluís Companys 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Daniel Campos
- Grup de Física Estadística, Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Barcelona, Spain
| | - William S Ryu
- Department of Physics and the Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, 60 St George St., Toronto, ON, M5S1A7, Canada
| | - Roger Lloret-Cabot
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300, Girona, Spain.,CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Vicenç Méndez
- Grup de Física Estadística, Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jordi Catalan
- Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), Cala Sant Francesc 14, 17300, Girona, Spain.,CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Barcelona, Spain
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