Does an antenna's radiation pattern characterize its ability as a receiver?
As Peter's answer says, the short answer is "yes".

The reason is, according to Wikipedia,


  It is a fundamental property of antennas that the receiving pattern (sensitivity as a function of direction) of an antenna when used for receiving is identical to the far-field radiation pattern of the antenna when used for transmitting. 


This is one consequence of the reciprocity theorem of electromagnetics. The proof is kind of hairy, though.