A random walk on Area Restricted Search
This work provides insights into animal foraging strategies, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing knowledge of ARS and Levy walks.
The paper analyzes Area Restricted Search (ARS) behavior in animals, which is optimal for patchy resources, and uses a genetic algorithm to determine its optimality and characteristics, relating it to Levy walks.
These notes from a graduate class at the Unuversidad Autonoma de Madrid analyze a search behavior known as Area Resticted Search (ARS), widespread in the animal kingdom, and optimal when the resources that one is after are "patchy". In the first section we study the importance of the behavior in animal and its dependence on the dopamine as a indicator of reward. In the second section we put together a genetic algorithm to determine the optimality of ARS and its characteristics. Finally, we relate ARS to a type of random walks known as "Levy Walks", in which the probability of jumping at a distance d from the current location follows a power law distribution.