Adaptation of Drosophila larva foraging in response to changes in food resources
- Computation in Neural Circuits Group, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany
- School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Germany
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Brighton and Sussex Medical School,, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Figures
Figure 1 with 1 supplement
Drosophila larva exploratory behavior in homogeneous substrates.
(A) Experimental setup: 10 larvae of the same phenotype (rover or sitter) were placed on the top of an agar-coated arena and recorded for 50 min, experiments were repeated three times with …
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Comparison between rover and sitter behavior in different substrates.
(A) Sample trajectories of sitter larvae in different substrates with the respective turning angle distributions in the inset. Top (blue): agar, bottom left (green): sucrose, bottom right (orange): …
Figure 2 with 1 supplement
Model of larva crawling in different substrates.
(A) Simulated larva crawls at time steps tk and tk+2, turns at tk+1, and makes a pause at tk+3. Crawling speed and turning angle are sampled from normal and von Mises probability distributions, …
Figure 2—figure supplement 1
Fraction of time spent inside patches.
(A) Each simulated rover (left) and sitter (right) larva (bars with different color shades, N = 30) has a fixed turning angle distribution with parameters corresponding to one rover/sitter from the …
Figure 3 with 2 supplements
Larval exploratory behavior in patchy substrates.
(A) Experimental setup: Five larvae of the same phenotype were placed on top of each food patch (two patches, total: 10 larvae per experiment). Three types of food patches were tested: sucrose …
Figure 3—figure supplement 1
Comparison between rover and sitter behavior in two patch substrates.
(A) Sample trajectories of rover larvae in patchy substrates where certain individuals visited both the two patches (sucrose, green), while others remained in the same patch for the entire duration …
Figure 3—figure supplement 2
Larval exploratory behavior in no-food patchy substrates.
(A) Sample trajectories of sitter larvae in agar–agar patches or agar–gel patches. Note that the larvae do not change their behavior at the patch boundary. Distribution of turning directions is …
Figure 4 with 1 supplement
Exploratory behavior of anosmic larvae in patchy environments.
(A) Sample trajectories of anosmic larvae in the three patch substrates with inward (outward) turns marked in red (gray) circles. Distribution of turning directions is shown on the bottom of each …
Figure 4—figure supplement 1
Analysis of diffusion of nutrients on behavior.
(A) Average turns toward the center (± standard error of the mean, SEM) as a function of the distance away from the patch center. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures was …
Figure 5 with 2 supplements
Interplay between food quality and patches distribution.
(A) Schematic showing inward turn (clockwise, CW) being selected by the simulated larva. By selecting inward turns, the trajectory approaches the patch center. (B) Spatial-dependent probability of …
Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Fraction of time spent inside patches with the model that includes turn bias.
(A) Each rover/sitter larva (bars, N = 15 for sucrose, N = 30 for yeast and apple juice) has a fixed turning angle distribution with parameters corresponding to one rover/sitter from the agar …
Figure 5—figure supplement 2
Simulations with varying number of patches.
(A) Sample trajectories of sitter larvae in sucrose (top) and apple juice (bottom) patchy arenas with varying number of patches (Np = 1, 2, 8, 32 from left to right). (B) Average fraction of time …
Figure 6
Behavioral response to changes in food quality and fragmentation.
(A) Sample simulated trajectories for sitter and rover larvae exploring in eight patches: sucrose patch (green) and yeast patch (orange). (B) Sample experimental trajectories of rover and sitter …
Videos
Video 1
Video of a larva pausing.
A sitter larva was allowed to feed on a fine layer of yeast supplemented with 0.1% Bromophenol blue sodium salt (B5525, Sigma). During pauses the larvae are immobile and only the movement of their …
Tables
Table 1
Number of larvae per recording.
| Substrate | Number of trials | Average number of larvae per trial | Total larvae |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agar homogeneous | 3 rovers 3 sitters | 10 rovers 10 sitters | 30 rovers 29 sitters |
| Sucrose homogeneous | 3 rovers 3 sitters | 10 rovers 10 sitters | 30 rovers 30 sitters |
| Yeast homogeneous | 3 rovers 3 sitters | 10 rovers 10 sitters | 29 rovers 30 sitters |
| Agar 2 patches | 3 sitters | 9 sitters | 28 sitters |
| Gel 2 patches | 3 sitters | 11 sitters | 33 sitters |
| Sucrose 2 patches | 2 rovers 2 sitters 3 anosmic | 8 rovers 8 sitters 10 anosmic | 15 rovers 15 sitters 28 anosmic |
| Sucrose 8 patches | 3 rovers 3 sitters | 8 rovers 8 sitters | 24 rovers 19 sitters |
| Yeast 2 patches | 3 rovers 3 sitters 3 anosmic | 10 rovers 10 sitters 10 anosmic | 30 rovers 27 sitters 21 anosmic |
| Yeast 8 patches | 3 rovers 3 sitters | 8 rovers 8 sitters | 25 rovers 21 sitters |
| Apple juice 2 patches | 3 rovers 3 sitters 3 anosmic | 10 rovers 10 sitters 10 anosmic | 30 rovers 30 sitters 29 anosmic |
Table 2
Parameters of model in homogeneous and patchy substrates obtained in homogeneous substrate experiments.
| Substrate | Larva | Mean v (mm/s) | Std v (mm/s) | Pturn/s | Ppause/s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agar | Rover | 0.84 | 0.13 | 0.044 | 0.0083 |
| Agar | Sitter | 0.96 | 0.13 | 0.046 | 0.0063 |
| Sucrose | Rover | 0.68 | 0.092 | 0.041 | 0.012 |
| Sucrose | Sitter | 0.68 | 0.085 | 0.035 | 0.021 |
| Yeast | Rover | 0.37 | 0.13 | 0.033 | 0.25 |
| Yeast | Sitter | 0.31 | 0.11 | 0.028 | 0.25 |
Table 3
Parameters of corrected model in patchy substrates obtained in patchy substrate experiments.
| Patchy substrate | Larva | Mean v inside (outside) (mm/s) | Std v inside (outside) (mm/s) | Pturn/s inside (outside) | Ppause/s inside (outside) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agar + sucrose | Rover | 0.60 (0.65) | 0.27 (0.25) | 0.037 (0.044) | 0.039 (0.0014) |
| Agar + sucrose | Sitter | 0.52 (0.57) | 0.28 (0.26) | 0.030 (0.030) | 0.088 (0.040) |
| Agar + yeast | Rover | 0.37 (0.44) | 0.19 (0.20) | 0.039 (0.068) | 0.17 (0.023) |
| Agar + yeast | Sitter | 0.26 (0.36) | 0.14 (0.17) | 0.025 (0.048) | 0.32 (0.053) |
| Agar + apple juice | Rover | 0.44 (0.53) | 0.24 (0.26) | 0.026 (0.017) | 0.096 (0.076) |
| Agar + apple juice | Sitter | 0.39 (0.48) | 0.21 (0.22) | 0.021 (0.031) | 0.13 (0.065) |
Table 4
Statistical power and Cohen’s effect size of non-significant comparisons.
| Figure 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D – Avg. number of turns per min | Power (1 − β) | Cohen’s size effect (d) | ||
| Rover | Agar | Sucrose | 0.24 | 0.34 |
| Rover | Sucrose | Yeast | 0.48 | 0.52 |
| Sitter | Sucrose | Yeast | 0.47 | 0.51 |
| G – Handedness | ||||
| Rover | Agar | Sucrose | 0.13 | −0.22 |
| Rover | Agar | Yeast | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Rover | Sucrose | Yeast | 0.19 | 0.31 |
| Sitter | Agar | Sucrose | 0.14 | 0.25 |
| Sitter | Agar | Yeast | 0.08 | 0.16 |
| Sitter | Sucrose | Yeast | 0.08 | −0.15 |
| Figure 3 | ||||
| C – Crawling speed | Power (1 − β) | Cohen’s size effect (d) | ||
| Sucrose | ||||
| Rover | In | Out | 0.14 | −0.34 |
| Sitter | In | Out | 0.20 | −0.44 |
| D – Avg. number of turns per min | ||||
| Sucrose | ||||
| Rover | In | Out | 0.29 | −0.56 |
| Sitter | In | Out | 0.05 | −0.02 |
| F – Handedness | ||||
| Rover | ||||
| Sucrose | In | Out | 0.11 | −0.30 |
| Yeast | In | Out | 0.10 | −0.24 |
| Apple juice | In | Out | 0.15 | 0.31 |
| Sitter | ||||
| Sucrose | In | Out | 0.06 | −0.15 |
| Yeast | In | Out | 0.06 | −0.14 |
| Apple juice | In | Out | 0.16 | −0.39 |
| G – Crawl dist. 5 min | ||||
| Apple juice | Rover | Sitter | 0.20 | 0.34 |
| H – Fraction of time spent inside patch | ||||
| Sucrose | Rover | Sitter | 0.08 | 0.20 |
| Apple juice | Rover | Sitter | 0.32 | −0.40 |
| Figure S3 | ||||
| Apple juice Crawling speed | Power (1 − β) | Cohen’s size effect (d) | ||
| In | Rover | Sitter | 0.61 | 0.60 |
| Out | Rover | Sitter | 0.32 | 0.40 |
| Avg. number of turns per min | ||||
| In | Rover | Sitter | 0.53 | 0.55 |
| Out | Rover | Sitter | 0.09 | 0.18 |
| Fraction of pauses | ||||
| In | Rover | Sitter | 0.32 | −0.40 |
| Out | Rover | Sitter | 0.07 | 0.10 |
| Figure 4 | ||||
| Anosmic B – Crawling speed | Power (1 − β) | Cohen’s size effect (d) | ||
| Sucrose | In | Out | 0.51 | −0.56 |
| Yeast | In | Out | 0.23 | −0.39 |
| C – Avg. number of turns per min | ||||
| Sucrose | In | Out | 0.10 | −0.19 |
| Yeast | In | Out | 0.32 | −0.50 |
| E – Handedness | ||||
| Sucrose | In | Out | 0.10 | 0.24 |
| Yeast | In | Out | 0.07 | −0.16 |
| Apple juice | In | Out | 0.45 | 0.58 |
| F – Fraction of time spent inside patch | ||||
| Sucrose | Yeast | 0.26 | 0.40 | |
| Sucrose | Apple juice | 0.44 | −0.50 | |
| Figure 6 | ||||
| C – Fraction of time spent inside patch – eight patches | Power (1 − β) | Cohen’s size effect (d) | ||
| Sucrose | Rover | Sitter | 0.14 | −0.31 |
| Yeast | Rover | Sitter | 0.31 | 0.45 |
| E – Fraction of visited patches | ||||
| Rover | ||||
| Sucrose | 2 patches | 8 patches | 0.05 | 0 |
| Sitter | ||||
| Sucrose | 2 patches | 8 patches | 0.07 | 0.15 |
| Yeast | 2 patches | 8 patches | 0.56 | −0.62 |
Additional files
-
Transparent reporting form
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/75826/elife-75826-transrepform1-v2.pdf
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Source data 1
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/75826/elife-75826-data1-v2.xlsx
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Source data 2
All data individual larvae for Figure 6.
- https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/75826/elife-75826-data2-v2.xlsx
