The survival advantage of olfaction in a competitive environment.

ABSTRACT: Olfaction is generally assumed to be critical for survival because this sense allows animals to detect food and pheromonal cues. Although the ability to sense sex pheromones [1, 2, 3] is likely to be important for insects, the contribution of general odor detection to survival is unknown. We investigated the extent to which the olfactory system confers a survival advantage on Drosophila larvae foraging for food under conditions of limited resources and competition from other larvae.

SUBMITTER: Asahina K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2575080 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature