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Size of environmental grain and resource matching

Ranta, E ; Lundberg, Per LU and Kaitala, V (2000) In Oikos 89(3). p.573-576
Abstract
For most animals their foraging environment consists of a patch network. In random environments there are no spatial autocorrelation at all, while in fine-grained systems positive autocorrelations flip to negative ones and back again against distance. With increasing grain size the turnover rate of spatial autocorrelation slows down. Using a cellular automaton with foragers having limited information about their feeding environment we examined how well consumer numbers matched resource availability, also known as the ideal free distribution. The match is the better the smaller the size of the environmental grain. This is somewhat contrary to the observation that in large-grained environments the spatial autocorrelation is high and positive... (More)
For most animals their foraging environment consists of a patch network. In random environments there are no spatial autocorrelation at all, while in fine-grained systems positive autocorrelations flip to negative ones and back again against distance. With increasing grain size the turnover rate of spatial autocorrelation slows down. Using a cellular automaton with foragers having limited information about their feeding environment we examined how well consumer numbers matched resource availability, also known as the ideal free distribution. The match is the better the smaller the size of the environmental grain. This is somewhat contrary to the observation that in large-grained environments the spatial autocorrelation is high and positive over long distances. In such an environment foragers, by knowing a limited surrounding, should in fact know a much larger area because of the spatially autocorrelated resource pattern. Yet, when foragers have limited knowledge, we observed that the degree of undermatching (i.e., more individuals in less productive patches than expected) increases with increasing grain size. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Oikos
volume
89
issue
3
pages
573 - 576
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:0034041886
ISSN
1600-0706
DOI
10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.890317.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3f1790de-3304-4f98-a6c7-21c2943f65bf (old id 147597)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:37:51
date last changed
2022-01-27 07:44:52
@article{3f1790de-3304-4f98-a6c7-21c2943f65bf,
  abstract     = {{For most animals their foraging environment consists of a patch network. In random environments there are no spatial autocorrelation at all, while in fine-grained systems positive autocorrelations flip to negative ones and back again against distance. With increasing grain size the turnover rate of spatial autocorrelation slows down. Using a cellular automaton with foragers having limited information about their feeding environment we examined how well consumer numbers matched resource availability, also known as the ideal free distribution. The match is the better the smaller the size of the environmental grain. This is somewhat contrary to the observation that in large-grained environments the spatial autocorrelation is high and positive over long distances. In such an environment foragers, by knowing a limited surrounding, should in fact know a much larger area because of the spatially autocorrelated resource pattern. Yet, when foragers have limited knowledge, we observed that the degree of undermatching (i.e., more individuals in less productive patches than expected) increases with increasing grain size.}},
  author       = {{Ranta, E and Lundberg, Per and Kaitala, V}},
  issn         = {{1600-0706}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{573--576}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Oikos}},
  title        = {{Size of environmental grain and resource matching}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.890317.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1034/j.1600-0706.2000.890317.x}},
  volume       = {{89}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}