Carbon dioxide narcosis modifies the patch leaving decision of foraging parasitoids

Anim Cogn. 2012 May;15(3):429-35. doi: 10.1007/s10071-011-0464-8. Epub 2011 Oct 22.

Abstract

Gleaning information is a way for foragers to adjust their behavior in order to maximize their fitness. Information decreases the uncertainty about the environment and could help foragers to accurately estimate environmental characteristics. In a patchy resource, information sampled during previous patch visits is efficient only if it is retained in the memory and retrieved upon arrival in a new patch. In this study, we tested whether the braconid Asobara tabida, a parasitoid of Drosophila larvae, retains information gleaned on patch quality in the memory and adjusts its foraging behavior accordingly. Females were anesthetized with CO(2) after leaving a first patch containing a different number of hosts and were allowed to visit a second patch containing only kairomones. CO(2) is known to erase unconsolidated information from the memory. We show that in the absence of a short CO(2) narcosis, females responded according to their previous experience, whereas anesthetized females did not. The anesthetized females stayed a given time in the second patch irrespective of what they encountered before. CO(2) narcosis had no effect on the residence time of the non-experienced females in a patch containing hosts or only kairomones in comparison with the non-anesthetized females that had a previous foraging experience. We conclude that CO(2) narcosis erases the effect of the previous patch quality, perhaps due to a memory disruption. Direct information processing is likely to be involved in parasitoid decision making through retention of the information on the previous patch quality into a CO(2) sensitive memory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Carbon Dioxide / pharmacology
  • Decision Making / drug effects
  • Female
  • Memory / drug effects
  • Predatory Behavior / drug effects*
  • Wasps / drug effects
  • Wasps / physiology*

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide