While ducks have long
been popular research subjects in both North America and Europe, geographical divergences
in research orientation have developed during the last several decades when it
comes to studying foraging ecology. In North America, foraging studies largely focus
on the population level with an emphasis on foraging energetics aimed at
improving waterfowl production through increased carrying capacity of wetlands
in breeding areas, an approach later expanded to non-breeding grounds. In Europe,
studies have instead focused on inter-individual differences in behavior of
foraging ducks, with an emphasis on individual efficiency (methods, intake
rate, patch choice) within the framework of optimal foraging theory. We suggest
that agent-based models (also called individual-based behavior models) – which
aim to predict habitat use from the heterogeneous behavior of different individual
agents – can help to unify these approaches and would benefit considerably from
increased collaboration and integration of the approaches of both North
American and European researchers.