TAYLOR, S.; BLAIR, K.; ARACENA, J.; Mississippi Univ. for Women; Mississippi Univ. for Women; Mississippi Univ. for Women: Feeding behavior of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) on patches of sucrose solutions: Effects of food deprivation and quinine

A field collected population of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) was maintained in the laboratory to study foraging behavior on patches of food in a semi-natural setting. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the feeding threshold for quinine in sucrose solutions in flies deprived of food for different time periods. Two-choice tests were run in which groups of flies foraged freely on patches of solutions containing a mix of 1) pure sucrose, and 2) sucrose/quinine solutions of varying quinine concentrations. The solutions were dyed with food coloring that could later be seen in the abdomens of the flies to determine which solutions were consumed. We determined that the acceptance of sucrose/quinine solutions was heavily modulated by the period of food deprivation. The number of flies feeding on both solutions was decreased by higher quinine solutions but increased by longer food deprivation. These results suggest that internal and external inhibitory and excitatory inputs are integrated differently during various steps in the complex foraging process in patches of food.