Chapter 53, Problem 1A

Summary Introduction

To suggest:

A hypothesis for the reason that why shore crabs eat smaller sized mussels than expected by an optimal foraging model and also to describe an experiment to test the hypothesis.

Introduction:

Optimal foraging theory is a model that helps to determine the animal behavior while searching for food. Food provides energy to the animal, but foraging or searching and capturing of food needs both energy and time. Optimal foraging theory suggests that natural selection favors those animals whose foraging behavior is such energetically efficient that their increased energy reserves result in increased reproductive success.