My interests are to understand how integration of multiple functions influences organism performance. I do this from analyses of complete cycles of behavior by animals that shuttle between patches containing two required resources. The rate of gain and amount of one resource (A) influences time and resource use for travel and to obtain the other resource (B, usually food) before the animal must return to replenish the other (A). Examples include diving, basking by ectotherms, intermittent egg incubation, burrow use by desert animals, brooding young, territorial defense, drinking by desert animals and feeding for mating.

We currently study heat exchange for foraging animals because temperature is the easiest to measure. There is an optimum temperature at patch A to maximize performance at patch B. The optimum varies with travel time and heat exchange variables. This differs from ideas used by physiologists to explain temperature controls. There also is an optimum time to spend at patch B which differs from predictions by ecologists who do not consider constraints produced by resource gains at patch A. An integrated study of both resources seems necessary to understand variation in either.

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