Distribution of Drosophila melanogaster on Alternative Resources: Effects of Experience and Starvation

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Abstract
Previous experiments with Drosophila have provided contradictory results concerning the effects of prior experience on response to resources. Laboratory experiments reveal that depending on the test used, prior experience can increase, decrease, or not affect the likelihood of response to the familiar resource. Similarly, some capture-recapture field experiments illustrate apparent fidelity to habitats or baits of initial capture but others do not. We present field and laboratory experiments on the effects of starvation and experience on response to resources that may reconcile these contradictions. We found that (1) prior experience with a particular resource tends to lower the probability that flies will be captured on that resource in the field; (2) starvation changes the flies'' responses to the resources; and (3) these behavioral changes are apparently adaptive, in that unstarved flies are less likely than starved flies to be captuerd on the poorer of two alternative resources. Previous experiments have not controlled for the physiological state of flies associated with alternative habitats or media. Our data suggest that such differences may be enough to account for apparent habitat and medium fidelity. Specifically, flies caught in the poorer of two habitats may be preferentially recaptured there because they are stressed and hence less discriminating than files from the better habitat. It is not necessary to postulate genetic differences in habitat choice or learning by the flies.

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