dominance and competition: a giving-up density analysis of rank-based foraging decisions of small groups of confined bison (bison bison)
abstract
socially foraging animals such as bison (bison bison) modify their foraging
behaviour based on social status and food availability to maximize individual fitness.
winter feeding trials were performed on juvenile bison at stanley hill bison farm in
kakabeka falls, on, using a giving-up density (gud) framework to record the densities
of a resource at which bison of various rank would cease foraging. bison were provided
with two food sources, abundant lower-quality hay and limited higher-quality oats
mixed with blocks of wood in feeding trays. time spent foraging from the high-quality
trays by each bison, as well as all instances of voluntary quitting and involuntary
abandonments of patches, were recorded and compared to the density of food remaining
in the trays at the end of the trials. rank was negatively related to guds, with high-ranked bison ceasing foraging at the lowest guds. dominants prematurely abandon
their own trays in favour of subordinates. however, lower-ranked bison forage for a
shorter time from the oats and cease foraging altogether at higher guds to exploit
lower-quality hay, likely to escape competition as the costs of foraging from the oats
increased. males may also have a lower gud than females. that high- and low-ranked
captive bison use different strategies of foraging in confined environments supports the
widely acknowledged theory that social rank has a large effect on foraging behaviour
and energetic intake, and the results of the trials quantify this through difference. this
study highlights the existence of two feedback loops: (1) a positive loop where increased
foraging efficiency reinforces rank for high-ranked bison, and (2) a negative loop
whereby low-ranked bison are forced to forage inefficiently and are thus ever more
disadvantaged against competition from higher-ranked bison.
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