How Landscape Heterogeneity Frames Optimal Diffusivity in Searching Processes e1002233

Theoretical and empirical investigations of search strategies typically have failed to distinguish the distinct roles played by density versus patchiness of resources. It is well known that motility and diffusivity of organisms often increase in environments with low density of resources, but thus f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPLoS computational biology Vol. 7; no. 11
Main Authors Raposo, E P, Bartumeus, F, Luz, G Eda, Ribeiro-Neto, P J, Souza, T A, Viswanathan, G M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published San Francisco Public Library of Science 01.11.2011
Subjects
Binding sites
Efficiency
Foraging behavior
Motility
Organisms
Proteins
Studies
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Summary:Theoretical and empirical investigations of search strategies typically have failed to distinguish the distinct roles played by density versus patchiness of resources. It is well known that motility and diffusivity of organisms often increase in environments with low density of resources, but thus far there has been little progress in understanding the specific role of landscape heterogeneity and disorder on random, non-oriented motility. Here we address the general question of how the landscape heterogeneity affects the efficiency of encounter interactions under global constant density of scarce resources. We unveil the key mechanism coupling the landscape structure with optimal search diffusivity. In particular, our main result leads to an empirically testable prediction: enhanced diffusivity (including superdiffusive searches), with shift in the diffusion exponent, favors the success of target encounters in heterogeneous landscapes.
ISSN:1553-734X
1553-7358
DOI:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002233