Search for job or prey, process is the same

Washington, Oct. 6: Turns out the same decisionmaking process that goes into searching for a job also applies to hunters searching for prey, and the knowledge can be used in conservation.

In a new study, researchers used a job search theoretical model to better understand hunters' decision- making in order to develop conservation tools to address overhunting in the tropics, where more than three- quarters of all plant and animal species live.

Just like a job applicant goes through a series of decisions each time a potential job is on the table, a hunter also faces series of decisions: shoot and gain a reward or delay and wait for another potential prey.

Optimal decisions have been used in ecology to address questions about a mate or food choice. In this case, an ecologist from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and a mathematician from Princeton University used it to study hunter diet to determine the optimal stopping point.

Mathematically, the decision to shoot yields what the researchers called a “dietary trait threshold” the point at which a desired trait such as large body mass or antler size is reached and leads the hunter to take a shot.

Globally, body size is an important determinant of prey value, the researchers wrote, and so it can help predict which species are threatened.

Tropical hunting tends to harvest a wide range of species, across mammals, birds, and reptiles. — ANI