Effects of aggregation pheromone on individual behaviour and food web interactions: a field study onDrosophila

Abstract

1. The effects of an aggregation pheromone on individual behaviour and food web interactions were investigated in two ecological communities, using Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans as focal species.2. Fruit substrates with aggregation pheromone were significantly more attractive to adult D. melanogaster and D. simulans than control fruit substrates, and the response was positively dose dependent. Competing species and natural enemies were also significantly attracted to substrates with the aggregation pheromone of D. melanogaster and D. simulans.3. Significantly more eggs were deposited on pheromone-treated fruits than on control fruits, and the microdistribution of eggs within fruits was correlated to the microdistribution of the pheromone. The aggregation pheromone induced more females to share the breeding site.4. The extremely high densities of fruit flies in the large aggregations appeared to reduce the oviposition rate of females. Physical interactions with conspecific and heterospecifics were frequently observed in the aggregations, and often led to patch leaving of the fruit flies. 5. Competition for food among larvae occurred at high densities and parasitism was density dependent. Aggregation pheromones can be directly responsible for these patterns through their effects on the con-and heterospecific behaviour.6. The combined results show that aggregation pheromones affect a multitude of aspects in the ecology of interacting animals. The importance of incorporating the communication signals in ecological theory of aggregations is discussed.

The role of cVA and the Odorant binding protein Lush in social and sexual behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

“…This suggests that the sexes perceive this pheromone differently. Moreover, females are attracted to lay eggs nearby a source of cVA as the microdistribution of eggs within a food patch correlates with the microdistribution of cVA (Wertheim et al, 2006). Since this behavior can only be produced by females this is one more evidence for the sex-specific processing of cVA.…”

WolbachiaInfection Alters Olfactory-Cued Locomotion inDrosophilaspp

“…Each fly was used only once to avoid any effects of learning (6,19). To prevent odor contamination from previously used traps or Drosophila aggregation pheromones (38), arenas and muslin squares were washed and allowed to dry between subsequent experiments, and olfactory traps were discarded after each experiment. A parallel set of experiments (three replicates, with 50 flies each) using unbaited traps was carried out for all strains at 15 days of age to assess baseline activity.…”

“…We compared the performance of Wolbachia-infected hosts to that of uninfected controls in a laboratory-based measure of olfactory-cued locomotion for a range of adult ages. Both olfaction and locomotion are critically important for finding food and mates and are therefore of likely ecological significance (38). We predicted that the benign Wolbachia strains native to D. melanogaster and D. simulans might negatively affect host capture performance, given previous evidence from Leptopilina heterotoma (9).…”

Drosophila melanogaster females change mating behaviour and offspring production based on social context

“…Drosophila melanogaster swarm on food substrates, where they feed and breed [7,8]. Members of these groups derive benefits from this social environment.…”