ArticlePLoS computational biology2017
The evolutionary origins of Lévy walk foraging.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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30 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Fluctuating landscapes and heavy tails in animal behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Three-Dimensional Multi-Agent Foraging Strategy Based on Local Interaction.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Plasmodium sporozoite search strategy to locate hotspots of blood vessel invasion.Nature communications · 2023Article
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- On the mean path length invariance property for random walks of animals in open environment.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Toward understanding the communication in sperm whales.iScience · 2022Review
- Liver Environment-Imposed Constraints Diversify Movement Strategies of Liver-Localized CD8 T Cells.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2022Article
- The evolutionary maintenance of Lévy flight foraging.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Intrinsic and environmental factors modulating autonomous robotic search under high uncertainty.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- A single-agent extension of the SIR model describes the impact of mobility restrictions on the COVID-19 epidemic.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Formalizing planning and information search in naturalistic decision-making.Nature neuroscience · 2021Review
- Likelihood approximation networks (LANs) for fast inference of simulation models in cognitive neuroscience.eLife · 2021Article
- Hunters, busybodies and the knowledge network building associated with deprivation curiosity.Nature human behaviour · 2021Article
- Sediment availability provokes a shift from Brownian to Lévy-like clonal expansion in a dune building grass.Ecology letters · 2021Article
- The growth and form of knowledge networks by kinesthetic curiosity.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2020Article
- Functional advantages of Lévy walks emerging near a critical point.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
We study through a reaction-diffusion algorithm the influence of landscape diversity on the efficiency of search dynamics. Remarkably, the identical optimal search strategy arises in a wide variety of environments, provided the target density is sparse and the searcher's information is restricted to its close vicinity. Our results strongly impact the current debate on the emergentist vs. evolutionary origins of animal foraging. The inherent character of the optimal solution (i.e., independent on the landscape for the broad scenarios assumed here) suggests an interpretation favoring the evolutionary view, as originally implied by the Lévy flight foraging hypothesis. The latter states that, under conditions of scarcity of information and sparse resources, some organisms must have evolved to exploit optimal strategies characterized by heavy-tailed truncated power-law distributions of move lengths. These results strongly suggest that Lévy strategies-and hence the selection pressure for the relevant adaptations-are robust with respect to large changes in habitat. In contrast, the usual emergentist explanation seems not able to explain how very similar Lévy walks can emerge from all the distinct non-Lévy foraging strategies that are needed for the observed large variety of specific environments. We also report that deviations from Lévy can take place in plentiful ecosystems, where locomotion truncation is very frequent due to high encounter rates. So, in this case normal diffusion strategies-performing as effectively as the optimal one-can naturally emerge from Lévy. Our results constitute the strongest theoretical evidence to date supporting the evolutionary origins of experimentally observed Lévy walks.
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