title: Natural search algorithms as a bridge between organisms, evolution, and ecology.
abstract: The ability to navigate is a hallmark of living systems, from single cells to higher animals. Searching for targets, such as food or mates in particular, is one of the fundamental navigational tasks many organisms must execute to survive and reproduce. Here, we argue that a recent surge of studies of the proximate mechanisms that underlie search behavior offers a new opportunity to integrate the biophysics and neuroscience of sensory systems with ecological and evolutionary processes, closing a feedback loop that promises exciting new avenues of scientific exploration at the frontier of systems biology.
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; ahein@princeton.edu.
authors: Andrew M
authors: AM
authors: Hein
authors: Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering, Eidgenössiche Technische Hoschule (ETH) Zürich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Carrara
authors: Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering, Eidgenössiche Technische Hoschule (ETH) Zürich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Douglas R
authors: DR
authors: Brumley
authors: Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering, Eidgenössiche Technische Hoschule (ETH) Zürich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Roman
authors: R
authors: Stocker
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544;
authors: Simon A
authors: SA
authors: Levin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004463:Ecology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D012724:Sex Attractants
keywords: encounter rates; evolutionary strategy; exploration–exploitation; navigation; sensing