Information use and memory formation during foraging in the parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis

Abstract

Adapting foraging behavior to variable environments often requires the acquisition, storage and use of information, coming from various sources. By now, behavioral ecologists have developed sophisticated models on how a foraging animal may behave in order to maximize its lifetime fitness gain. While the behavior of many parasitoid species matches the qualitative predictions of those models quite well, the behavior of other parasitoids showed a lack of such a match. Therefore, the role of information use and its possible limitations are of major interest to understand how organisms adjust their behavior in an adaptive way. The present study aimed at investigating aspects of information use during foraging in Nasonia vitripennis in host finding through associative learning and in egg and time allocation decisions under variable habitat qualities.