Judy A. Stamps, V. V. Krishnan, and Mary L. Reid. 2005. Search costs and habitat selection by dispersers. Ecology 86:510–518.

Appendix A. Glossary of terms.

e_A, e_B  :  rates at which dispersers encounter habitats of type A and  B respectively while searching for a new habitat

F_A, F_B : the quality of habitats A and B for dispersers, i.e., the expected fitness of a disperser after it arrives at habitat A or habitat B, excluding deferred search costs

P₀ (t) :  probability that a disperser is still searching for a habitat at time t

T :  total time available to search for a new habitat

t :   the current time during the search interval (0 < t < T)

t_{s :}   switching time: time during the search when a disperser switches from being selective (only accept A) to being non-selective (accept either A or B)

t* : the value of t_s that maximizes disperser fitness

w: overall disperser fitness, from the beginning of search to the end of residency in the new habitat

w (t_s) : expected fitness of a disperser as a function of switching time, t_s

 : deferred search cost per unit time spent searching for a new habitat

 : mortality rate during search: probability of dying per unit time