Patterns of arrival, times of first arrival on bait, and instantaneous numbers of animals on bait may be used to estimate abundance and distance of attraction for scavenging species of fish and invertebrates. A simple Gaussian odour plume model, which takes into account the rate of odour production by bait, chemosensory threshold of scavengers, swimming speed of scavengers relative to current velocity, and satiation time, was used. Scavengers are assumed to be stationary and randomly or evenly distributed prior to detecting odour, and presumably respond immediately to odour. Calculations with the model are made with new and published data for various fish and the parameters and assumptions which are critical to the model. |
