Abstract
Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to evaluate the effects of the differences of site preference to two-dish choice experiments.Three parameters, the frequency of visit to one foraging site A (FV), the amount of food taken from dish A (FTA) and the coefficient of aversion to treated-food(CR), were used in this model.
1) In control experiment, in which the same amount of food was placed in both dish A and B, changes of FV (from 0.05 to 0.5)and FTA (0.04-0.1)affected the site preference.The percentage of experiments in which the site B was preferred increased significantly as the values of FV and FTA got smaller.
2) In two-dishch oice experiments, the effect of treatment was affected by the values of CR. Greater the value of CR, greater the percentage of detection of the effect of treatment.When CR increased linearly whenever a birdvisited the foraging site, thepercentage of detection was higherthanwhenCRwasalwaysconstant.
3) It is suggested that these three parameters could be estimated by observing behavior of birds and the changes of weight of food supplied.
4) This model suggested that the difference of site preference, if it did not always occur in all control experiments, would have a littl eeffects on the results of two-dish choice experiment.
