Predatory cannibalism in Drosophila melanogaster larvae

Vijendravarma, Roshan K.; Narasimha, Sunitha; Kawecki, Tadeusz J.

doi:10.1038/ncomms2744

Cited by 105 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Elliott et al Drosophila in captivity must eat voraciously to develop rapidly, attain maximum adult body size to gain mates or produce eggs (Mueller and Joshi 2000;Betini et al 2013Betini et al , 2014, and avoid being cannibalized under high densities (Vijendravarma et al 2013). Even a minor reduction in foraging efficiency due to false fear could have negative consequences, explaining why development time, and consequently adult body size (Elliott et al 2016), were affected by exposure to predators.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scared fitless: Context-dependent response of fear to loss of predators over evolutionary time in Drosophila melanogaster

Elliott

Norris

Betini

et al. 2017

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Fear of predation can disappear rapidly in the absence of predators, as bolder individuals outcompete vigilant individuals for food and mates. To examine the evolution of fear in a seasonal environment, we exposed Drosophila melanogaster to mantid predators during the breeding season and the nonbreeding season, and compared these with a control. We compared three Drosophila lineages that were maintained in captivity for (1) ∼45 years without mantid predators, (2) ∼5 years without mantid predators, and (3) ∼5 years with mantid predators (predator-evolved). The presence of a predator during the non-breeding season caused reduced fecundity in the following breeding season, independent of the evolutionary lineage. However, the presence of a predator during reproduction caused offspring to emerge earlier, and this effect was more pronounced in the predator-evolved lineage. Thus, the fear response was related to evolutionary lineage only during the larval life stage, which is when foraging competition, and hence the cost of fear, may be highest. We present one of the first experimental demonstrations that emotion (fear) can evolve in response to environmental context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scared fitless: Context-dependent response of fear to loss of predators over evolutionary time in Drosophila melanogaster

Elliott

Norris

Betini

et al. 2017

FACETS

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“…This aggregation can be modulated by the distribution of environmental resources, genetic determinants that determine the degree of resource exploitation versus exploration/ foraging (Sokolowski, 2010), and social mechanisms. For example, adult males lay pheromones that attract females to food sources (Lin et al, 2015), and larvae deposit aggregation pheromones (Mast et al, 2014) that may be used to facilitate food digestion (Durisko et al, 2014) and create opportunities for cannibalistic interactions (Vijendravarma et al, 2013).…”

Section: Group Behavior In Drosophila Melanogastermentioning

confidence: 99%

The neurogenetics of group behavior inDrosophila melanogaster

Ramdya

Schneider

Levine

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Organisms rarely act in isolation. Their decisions and movements are often heavily influenced by direct and indirect interactions with conspecifics. For example, we each represent a single node within a social network of family and friends, and an even larger network of strangers. This group membership can affect our opinions and actions. Similarly, when in a crowd, we often coordinate our movements with others like fish in a school, or birds in a flock. Contributions of the group to individual behaviors are observed across a wide variety of taxa but their biological mechanisms remain largely unknown. With the advent of powerful computational tools as well as the unparalleled genetic accessibility and surprisingly rich social life of Drosophila melanogaster, researchers now have a unique opportunity to investigate molecular and neuronal determinants of group behavior. Conserved mechanisms and/or selective pressures in D. melanogaster can likely inform a much wider phylogenetic scale. Here, we highlight two examples to illustrate how quantitative and genetic tools can be combined to uncover mechanisms of two group behaviors in D. melanogaster: social network formation and collective behavior. Lastly, we discuss future challenges towards a full understanding how coordinated brain activity across many individuals gives rise to the behavioral patterns of animal societies.

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“…The importance of olfaction detection is also evident under mixed-age high-density laboratory cultures when younger larvae could turn toward cannibalism. In that scenario, chemosensory cues released from victim's injuries during the first attack could be relevant to induce aggregation and further collective cannibalistic behavior (Vijendravarma et al, 2013). Larvae show general attraction toward a big range of odors of varied chemical characteristics, such as acids, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, and to a lesser extent, some terpenes and aromatics Khurana and Siddiqi, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemicals and chemoreceptors: ecologically relevant signals driving behavior in Drosophila

2015

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Insects encounter a vast repertoire of chemicals in their natural environment, which can signal positive stimuli like the presence of a food source, a potential mate, or a suitable oviposition site as well as negative stimuli such as competitors, predators, or toxic substances reflecting danger. The presence of specialized chemoreceptors like taste and olfactory receptors allows animals to detect chemicals at short and long distances and accordingly, trigger proper behaviors toward these stimuli. Since the first description of olfactory and taste receptors in Drosophila melanogaster 15 years ago, our knowledge on the identity, properties, and function of specific chemoreceptors has increased exponentially. In the last years, multidisciplinary approaches combining genetic tools with electrophysiological techniques, behavioral recording, evolutionary analysis, and chemical ecology studies are shedding light on our understanding on the ecological relevance of specific chemoreceptors for the survival of Drosophila in their natural environment. In this review we discuss the current knowledge on chemoreceptors of both the olfactory and taste systems of the fruitfly. We focus on the relevance of particular receptors for the detection of ecologically relevant cues such as pheromones, food sources, and toxic compounds, and we comment on the behavioral changes that the detection of these chemicals induce in the fly. In particular, we give an updated outlook of the chemical communication displayed during one of the most important behaviors for fly survival, the courtship behavior. Finally, the ecological relevance of specific chemicals can vary depending on the niche occupied by the individual. In that regard, in this review we also highlight the contrast between adult and larval systems and we propose that these differences could reflect distinctive requirements depending on the change of ecological niche occupied by Drosophila along its life cycle.

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Predatory cannibalism in Drosophila melanogaster larvae

Cited by 105 publications

References 57 publications

Scared fitless: Context-dependent response of fear to loss of predators over evolutionary time in Drosophila melanogaster

Scared fitless: Context-dependent response of fear to loss of predators over evolutionary time in Drosophila melanogaster

The neurogenetics of group behavior inDrosophila melanogaster

Chemicals and chemoreceptors: ecologically relevant signals driving behavior in Drosophila

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