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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/13271
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dc.contributor.advisorDukas, Reuvenen_US
dc.contributor.authorDurisko, Zachary T.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2014-06-18T17:03:28Z-
dc.date.available2014-06-18T17:03:28Z-
dc.date.created2013-08-20en_US
dc.date.issued2013-10en_US
dc.identifier.otheropendissertations/8090en_US
dc.identifier.other9112en_US
dc.identifier.other4468588en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11375/13271-
dc.description.abstract<p>Animals utilize information about their environments in order to adaptively modify behaviour. Such information may come from individual experience or from social sources, both of which have costs and benefits to the animal. Here I first show benefits of individual learning with respect to foraging performance, a good proxy of fitness, in bumblebees in a naturalistic setting. Second, I show that despite fitness costs associated with learning, fruit flies do not modify their investment in learning ability due to environmental complexity of larval foraging environment. Third, I show that fruit fly larvae utilize social information in their foraging decisions, including social learning, despite increased competition costs. Fourth, I show that adult fruit flies also use the presence of larvae as a source of social information to find suitable food patches. Finally, I show that larvae spontaneously form small foraging aggregations, one benefit of which may be an improved ability to dig and burrow into the surface of the food. I discuss the costs and benefits of both individual and social learning, as well as the potential for insect model systems in future studies of sociality and learning.</p>en_US
dc.subjectLearningen_US
dc.subjectSocial Learningen_US
dc.subjectFruit Fliesen_US
dc.subjectInsectsen_US
dc.subjectSocial Informationen_US
dc.subjectSocial Behaviouren_US
dc.subjectBehavior and Ethologyen_US
dc.subjectBehavior and Ethologyen_US
dc.titleThe Evolution and Ecology of Learning and Social Behaviour in Insectsen_US
dc.typedissertationen_US
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen_US
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

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