Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 100
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2014-50032-6

Regular Article

Space use by foragers consuming renewable resources

¹ Centro Atómico Bariloche, CONICET and Instituto Balseiro, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina
² Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET and Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina
³ Schools of Mathematical Sciences and Biological Sciences and the Monash Academy for Cross & Interdisciplinary Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3169, Australia

^a e-mail: kuperman@cab.cnea.gov.ar

Received: 14 January 2014
Received in final form: 19 March 2014
Published online: 1 May 2014

Abstract

We study a simple model of a forager as a walk that modifies a relaxing substrate. Within it simplicity, this provides an insight on a number of relevant and non-intuitive facts. Even without memory of the good places to feed and no explicit cost of moving, we observe the emergence of a finite home range. We characterize the walks and the use of resources in several statistical ways, involving the behavior of the average used fraction of the system, the length of the cycles followed by the walkers, and the frequency of visits to plants. Preliminary results on population effects are explored by means of a system of two non directly interacting animals. Properties of the overlap of home ranges show the existence of a set of parameters that provides the best utilization of the shared resource.