Interruptions to foraging and learning in a changing environment

Many resources are both stochastic and variable in their average profitability. Animals have to sample them to track their current states, but whether it is economic to attempt this depends on many factors. Furthermore, there are many interruptions and distractions from foraging (e.g. escape from predators, bad weather, displacement by competitors) which interfere with the acquisition of information. We present a dynamic model of foraging in a stochastic and varying environment, under the constant threat of interruption, to investigate this very general problem. A forager faces two foraging options, one of which provides a known and constant reward, the other providing a reward that is not only stochastic, but whose mean payoff varies in time. The forager has to learn which option has the highest current payoff by sampling. However, interruptions to foraging can occur at any time, the timing and duration of which are beyond the animal's control. When there is a small probability of foraging being interrupted, the forager should forage extensively on the unknown option, but as the probability of interruptions is increased, there is a sudden transition to foraging only on the known option. This occurs because interruptions affect both the level of information required to make exploitation of the unknown option profitable, and the ability to acquire and maintain that information. At what probability of being interrupted this threshold emerges is affected by the value of learning about the unknown option and the duration of interruptions. We discuss the generality of our results with reference to the pervasive problem of updating information in the face of different types of interruption. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.