Université de Lyon, 69000 Lyon, France.
Anim Cogn. 2010 May;13(3):535-43. doi: 10.1007/s10071-009-0304-2. Epub 2009 Dec 18.
Visual cues are known to be used by numerous animal taxa to gather information on quality and localisation of resources. Because environmental lighting can interfere with the spectral features of visual cues, the specific characteristics of the colour signals that promote forager decision and learning are still not known in the majority of insects (excepted in bees). We analysed the effect of previous experience on the use of visual information by the wasp Venturia canescens, a parasitoid of pyralidae, in the context of host searching. These parasitoids search for hosts concealed in several fruit species, so visual cues from the host microhabitat could play a key role in host finding. We also investigated the type of visual cues on which wasps based their decision. We tested whether wasps are able to associate an achromatic cue (brightness) or a chromatic one (hue, i.e. dominant wavelength and/or chroma) with the presence of hosts. Our results show that in the context of host foraging, chromatic cues are more reliable than brightness in achieving the associative learning process. Therefore, understanding the behavioural ecology of foraging should make use of the knowledge about the visual information used.
视觉线索被广泛认为是许多动物类群用来获取有关资源质量和定位信息的工具。由于环境光照会干扰视觉线索的光谱特征，因此在大多数昆虫（除蜜蜂外）中，仍然不清楚那些促进觅食者决策和学习的特定颜色信号特征。我们分析了先前经验对寄生蝇 Venturia canescens 在寻找宿主时利用视觉信息的影响，这种寄生蝇是鳞翅目昆虫的寄生虫。这些寄生蝇会在几种水果中寻找隐藏的宿主，因此来自宿主微生境的视觉线索可能在宿主寻找中发挥关键作用。我们还研究了寄生蝇做出决策所依据的视觉线索类型。我们测试了寄生蝇是否能够将一种非彩色线索（亮度）或一种彩色线索（色调，即主波长和/或彩度）与宿主的存在联系起来。研究结果表明，在寻找宿主的过程中，与亮度相比，色调线索在实现联想学习过程中更可靠。因此，了解觅食的行为生态学应该利用关于所使用视觉信息的知识。
