Correlated decision making across multiple phases of olfactory-guided search in Drosophila improves search efficiency.

ABSTRACT: Nearly all motile organisms must search for food, often requiring multiple phases of exploration across heterogeneous environments. The fruit fly, Drosophila, has emerged as an effective model system for studying this behavior; however, little is known about the extent to which experiences at one point in their search might influence decisions in another. To investigate whether prior experiences impact flies' search behavior after landing, I tracked individually labelled fruit flies as they explored three odor-emitting but food-barren objects. I found two features of their behavior that are correlated with the distance they travel on foot. First, flies walked larger distances when they approached the odor source, which they were almost twice as likely to do when landing on the patch farthe

SUBMITTER: van Breugel F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8407661 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature