Data from: Experience matters: context-dependent decisions explain spatial foraging patterns in the deposit-feeding crab Scopimera intermedia

Behavioural decisions are often context-dependent, where information from
immediate experience is incorporated into an individual's
decision-making, particularly in complex environments. To test whether
such mechanism is adopted by foragers in heterogeneous environments, we
investigated the foraging behaviour of the deposit-feeding sand-bubbler
crab, Scopimera intermedia. An individual-based model was constructed,
based on an optimal-patch selection criterion, which implicitly assumed
that individuals adjust foraging decisions based on immediate past
experience. The model's predictions were tested on the shore by
manipulating the location of food patches, where the crab showed a strong
context-dependent foraging pattern. When resources were randomly
distributed, the crab responded by spending 56% of time in enriched
patches compared with only 28% in the same area when patches were composed
of natural sediments. Shore manipulations varying resource distribution
supported the underlying principles of the model mechanism, and
highlighted the benefits of such a strategy in heterogeneous environments
such as intertidal sediments where food resources vary at different
spatial and temporal scales. The proposed model therefore provides a
mechanistic process, based on optimal foraging, to predict foraging
decisions and movement patterns of animals feeding in heterogeneous
landscapes.