Why do Manduca sexta feed from white flowers? Innate and learnt colour preferences in a hawkmoth
(2008) In Naturwissenschaften 95(6). p.569-576- Abstract
- Flower colour is an important signal used by flowering plants to attract pollinators. Many anthophilous insects have an innate colour preference that is displayed during their first foraging bouts and which could help them locate their first nectar reward. Nevertheless, learning capabilities allow insects to switch their colour preferences with experience and thus, to track variation in floral nectar availability. Manduca sexta, a crepuscular hawkmoth widely studied as a model system for sensory physiology and behaviour, visits mostly white, night-blooming flowers lacking UV reflectance throughout its range in the Americas. Nevertheless, the spectral sensitivity of the feeding behaviour of naive moths shows a narrow peak around 450 nm... (More)
- Flower colour is an important signal used by flowering plants to attract pollinators. Many anthophilous insects have an innate colour preference that is displayed during their first foraging bouts and which could help them locate their first nectar reward. Nevertheless, learning capabilities allow insects to switch their colour preferences with experience and thus, to track variation in floral nectar availability. Manduca sexta, a crepuscular hawkmoth widely studied as a model system for sensory physiology and behaviour, visits mostly white, night-blooming flowers lacking UV reflectance throughout its range in the Americas. Nevertheless, the spectral sensitivity of the feeding behaviour of naive moths shows a narrow peak around 450 nm wavelengths, suggesting an innate preference for the colour blue. Under more natural conditions (i.e. broader wavelength reflectance) than in previous studies, we used dual choice experiments with blue- and white-coloured feeders to investigate the innate preference of naive moths and trained different groups to each colour to evaluate their learning capabilities. We confirmed the innate preference of M. sexta for blue and found that these moths were able to switch colour preferences after training experience. These results unequivocally demonstrate that M. sexta moths innately prefer blue when presented against white flower models and offer novel experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis that learning capabilities could be involved in their foraging preferences, including their widely observed attraction to white flowers in nature. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1203315
- author
- Goyret, Joaquin ; Pfaff, Michael ; Raguso, Robert A and Kelber, Almut LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2008
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- sensory ecology, Lepidoptera, innate preference, learning, vision
- in
- Naturwissenschaften
- volume
- 95
- issue
- 6
- pages
- 569 - 576
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000256010600013
- scopus:44149095015
- pmid:18288469
- ISSN
- 1432-1904
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00114-008-0350-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aefa4377-3537-440a-9a70-872eef1071c4 (old id 1203315)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:13:10
- date last changed
- 2024-05-09 18:38:35
@article{aefa4377-3537-440a-9a70-872eef1071c4,
abstract = {{Flower colour is an important signal used by flowering plants to attract pollinators. Many anthophilous insects have an innate colour preference that is displayed during their first foraging bouts and which could help them locate their first nectar reward. Nevertheless, learning capabilities allow insects to switch their colour preferences with experience and thus, to track variation in floral nectar availability. Manduca sexta, a crepuscular hawkmoth widely studied as a model system for sensory physiology and behaviour, visits mostly white, night-blooming flowers lacking UV reflectance throughout its range in the Americas. Nevertheless, the spectral sensitivity of the feeding behaviour of naive moths shows a narrow peak around 450 nm wavelengths, suggesting an innate preference for the colour blue. Under more natural conditions (i.e. broader wavelength reflectance) than in previous studies, we used dual choice experiments with blue- and white-coloured feeders to investigate the innate preference of naive moths and trained different groups to each colour to evaluate their learning capabilities. We confirmed the innate preference of M. sexta for blue and found that these moths were able to switch colour preferences after training experience. These results unequivocally demonstrate that M. sexta moths innately prefer blue when presented against white flower models and offer novel experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis that learning capabilities could be involved in their foraging preferences, including their widely observed attraction to white flowers in nature.}},
author = {{Goyret, Joaquin and Pfaff, Michael and Raguso, Robert A and Kelber, Almut}},
issn = {{1432-1904}},
keywords = {{sensory ecology; Lepidoptera; innate preference; learning; vision}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6}},
pages = {{569--576}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Naturwissenschaften}},
title = {{Why do Manduca sexta feed from white flowers? Innate and learnt colour preferences in a hawkmoth}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0350-7}},
doi = {{10.1007/s00114-008-0350-7}},
volume = {{95}},
year = {{2008}},
}