ABSTRACT
The intimate trophic interaction between a consumer and its prey is the foundation of trophic ecology. Foragers typically live in environments that have distributions of food that are patchy both spatially and temporally. To persist under these conditions, the internal state of organisms must interact with the abundance, distribution, and variance of food in the environment to ensure survival and reproduction. This chapter will explore several theoretical and simulation approaches used to assess how organisms make foraging decisions to ultimately influence the flux of energy and materials through ecosystems. As the environment becomes increasingly unpredictable through climate change, fragmentation, altered habitats, and other factors, the ability for foragers to successfully respond to changing information will determine whether they persist.
