The Physics of Foraging

Do the movements of animals, including humans, follow patterns that can be described quantitatively by simple laws of motion? If so, then why? These questions have attracted the attention of scientists in many disciplines, and stimulated debates ranging from ecological matters to queries such as 'how can there be free will if one follows a law of motion?' This is the first book on this rapidly evolving subject, introducing random searches and foraging in a way that can be understood by readers without a previous background on the subject. It reviews theory as well as experiment, addresses open problems and perspectives, and discusses applications ranging from the colonization of Madagascar by Austronesians to the diffusion of genetically modified crops. The book will interest physicists working in the field of anomalous diffusion and movement ecology as well as ecologists already familiar with the concepts and methods of statistical physics.

Gandhimohan M. Viswanathan is Professor of Physics at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, in Natal. Marcos G. E. da Luz is Associate Professor in the Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Paran, in Curitiba. Ernesto P. Raposo is Associate Professor in the Laboratrio cie Fisica Terica e Computacional, Departamento de Fsica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, in Recife. H. Eugene Stanley is University Professor, Professor of Physics, Chemistry, and Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, Professor of Physiology at Boston University School of Medicine, and Director of the Boston University Center for Polymer Studies.