Meeting Abstract
The ability of animals to navigate to and from resources such as breeding grounds, richer pastures for foraging as well as locations of shelters is essential for survival. Homing behaviors are seen across the animal kingdom, with the underlying mechanisms varying to a great degree. Invertebrates, such as crayfish prove to be excellent models for comparative research, with relatively simple nervous systems that have been extensively studied, combined with a rich behavioral repertoire that has been well documented. Although, research has highlighted the abilities of crayfish to learn locations based on both place and response cues, relatively little is known about their homing abilities particularly upon return from foraging excursions. This particular study aims to explore the mechanisms that maybe utilized by crayfish when homing to their burrows. Two species are examined Orconectes rusticus and Fallicambarus fodiens, both of which utilize burrows, but only F. fodiens constructs the burrows. Hence, there is a critical evolutionary question on the how the importance of ownership and building a burrow influences the homing behavior. The crayfish species were selected based on the varying complexity of the environments within which they reside as well as the amount of energy invested in constructing burrows.
