Levy walk patterns in the foraging movements of spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)

被引:352
作者
Ramos-Fernández, G
Mateos, JL
Miramontes, O
Cocho, G
Larralde, H
Ayala-Orozco, B
机构
[1] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Ctr Ciencias Fis, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
[2] Univ Calif Santa Cruz, Dept Environm Studies, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
[3] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Fis, Dipartimento Sistemas Complejos, Mexico City 01000, DF, Mexico
关键词
animal movement; spider monkeys; Levy walks; scale invariance; foraging;
D O I
10.1007/s00265-003-0700-6
中图分类号
B84 [心理学]; C [社会科学总论]; Q98 [人类学];
学科分类号
03 ; 0303 ; 030303 ; 04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Scale invariant patterns have been found in different biological systems, in many cases resembling what physicists have found in other, nonbiological systems. Here we describe the foraging patterns of free-ranging spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) in the forest of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico and find that these patterns closely resemble what physicists know as Levy walks. First, the length of a trajectory's constituent steps, or continuous moves in the same direction, is best described by a power-law distribution in which the frequency of ever larger steps decreases as a negative power function of their length. The rate of this decrease is very close to that predicted by a previous analytical Levy walk model to be an optimal strategy to search for scarce resources distributed at random. Second, the frequency distribution of the duration of stops or waiting times also approximates to a power-law function. Finally, the mean square displacement during the monkeys' first foraging trip increases more rapidly than would be expected from a random walk with constant step length, but within the range predicted for Levy walks. In view of these results, we analyze the different exponents characterizing the trajectories described by females and males, and by monkeys on their own and when part of a subgroup. We discuss the origin of these patterns and their implications for the foraging ecology of spider monkeys.
引用
收藏
页码:223 / 230
页数:8
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