Cheng Lei, Zhou Lizhi, Bao Yiwei, Mahtab Nazia
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering Anhui University Hefei China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecosystem Protection and Restoration (Anhui University) Hefei China.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Aug 30;10(19):10384-10394. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6693. eCollection 2020 Oct.
Animals prefer to aggregate in patches with high abundance and availability of food resources. Group foragers typically receive information about food resources by monitoring external events and the behavior of neighbors. The Information Centre Hypothesis proposes that aggregations increase foraging activity levels as a result of social information provided by conspecifics. Increasing the foraging rate has as a result decreasing time devoted to anti-predator vigilance and may intensify competition among group members. Studies have shown that foraging activities are influenced by factors other than flock size, such as the number and foraging intensity of neighbors. To test these hypotheses, we examined the effect of number and foraging intensity of neighbors on the foraging activity levels (foraging rate, foraging effort, and foraging success rate) of the wintering Oriental Storks (). In this study, we collected focal sampling data on the foraging behavior of storks at Shengjin Lake during winter from 2017 to 2019, controlling the effects of other variables (group identity, wintering years, and wintering periods). We found that foraging activity levels were higher in the presence of foraging neighbors than in their absence. Moreover, individuals adjusted their foraging activity levels according to social information gathered from the behavior of neighboring conspecifics. Focal individuals' foraging rate and foraging effort were positively correlated with the average foraging rate of neighbors. Their foraging success rate was not influenced by the average foraging rate and foraging success rate of neighbors; however, it was positively correlated with the average foraging effort of neighbors. In conclusion, foraging activity levels of individuals are primarily driven by the intensity of the foraging activity of neighbors. This result differs from the results of previous studies that suggested that flock size was the most important factor determining individual foraging activity levels.
动物倾向于聚集在食物资源丰富且易于获取的区域。群体觅食者通常通过监测外部事件和同伴的行为来获取有关食物资源的信息。信息中心假说提出，由于同种个体提供的社会信息，聚集会提高觅食活动水平。觅食率的提高会导致用于反捕食警惕的时间减少，并且可能会加剧群体成员之间的竞争。研究表明，觅食活动受到群体规模以外的其他因素影响，例如邻居的数量和觅食强度。为了验证这些假说，我们研究了邻居数量和觅食强度对越冬东方白鹳觅食活动水平（觅食率、觅食努力和觅食成功率）的影响。在本研究中，我们收集了2017年至2019年冬季升金湖白鹳觅食行为的焦点取样数据，同时控制了其他变量（群体身份、越冬年份和越冬时期）的影响。我们发现，有觅食邻居时的觅食活动水平高于没有邻居时。此外，个体根据从相邻同种个体行为中收集到的社会信息来调整自己的觅食活动水平。焦点个体的觅食率和觅食努力与邻居的平均觅食率呈正相关。它们的觅食成功率不受邻居平均觅食率和觅食成功率的影响；然而，它与邻居的平均觅食努力呈正相关。总之，个体的觅食活动水平主要由邻居的觅食活动强度驱动。这一结果与之前认为群体规模是决定个体觅食活动水平最重要因素的研究结果不同。
