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SUMMARY:Lévy flights and the search behaviour of top predators - David Si
 ms (School of Biological Sciences\, University of Plymouth)
DTSTART:20090326T140000Z
DTEND:20090326T150000Z
UID:TALK15649@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christian Franzke
DESCRIPTION:Search processes play an important role in physical\, chemical
  and biological systems\, including\, for example\, the encounter of two m
 olecules to perform a chemical reaction\, proteins searching megabases of 
 DNA for specific binding sites\, and in animal foraging. Lévy flights hav
 e been identified as a very efficient search strategy under certain condit
 ions by combining local search with longer excursions in a scale-free patt
 ern. Much recent research has tested the Lévy flight hypothesis with empi
 rical data\, apparently finding Lévy flight search patterns in diverse sp
 ecies\, from bacteria to humans. Is Lévy flight searching\, therefore\, a
  universal law? Do these studies stand up to closer scrutiny? This seminar
  will discuss these issues and will present new results from the movement 
 analysis of electronically tagged pelagic predators\, such as sharks\, tun
 a and turtles\, that offer themselves as particularly good models for test
 ing these ideas.  
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 307
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