Data from: Empirical evidence that large marine predator foraging behavior is consistent with area-restricted search theory

When prey is patchily distributed, predators are expected to spend more
time searching for food in proximity of recent prey captures before
searching in other areas. This behavior, known as area-restricted search,
results in predators remaining localized in areas where prey had been
detected previously because of the higher probability of encountering
additional prey. However, few studies have tested these predictions on
marine species because of the difficulties of observing feeding behavior.
In this study, we utilized passive acoustic detections of echolocating
dolphins to identify foraging behavior. C-PODs (click train detectors)
were deployed for two years with an acoustic recorder attached to the same
mooring during the second year. The time series of feeding buzzes,
indicative of foraging behavior, revealed that both bottlenose (Tursiops
truncatus) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) were more likely to
stay in the area longer when foraging activity was high at the beginning
of the encounter. The probability of foraging was also higher following
previous foraging activity. This suggests that dolphins were feeding on
spatially patchy prey and previous foraging experience influenced their
movement behavior. This is consistent with the predictions of
area-restricted search behavior, a nonrandom foraging strategy.