1. A forager’s optimal patch-departure time can be predicted by the prescient marginal value theorem (pMVT), which assumes they have perfect knowledge of the environment, or by approaches such as Bayesian-updating and learning rules, which avoid this assumption by allowing foragers to use recent experiences to inform their decisions. 2. In understanding and predicting broader scale ecological patterns, individual-level mechanisms, such as patch-departure decisions, need to be fully elucidated. Unfortunately, there are few empirical studies...