On Home Range of Limpets

Abstract

The position of 116 individually marked limpets (Acmaea digitalis) at the beginning and end of a seven months period are compared with the distribution expected from a random walk model. Transitional probabilities for the model are obtained from empirical data on changes in position during this period. Disagreement between actual and theoretical final positions is interpreted as meaning that the limpets do not behave as diffusing particles showing adaptive behavior, but rather seem to have a home range.