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Creation Date
4-19-2016
Description
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have a particular foraging behavior on patches, which depends on food quality and their physiological state. The purpose of my experiment was to determine the preference of feeding position for the flies on a small patch of food. Specifically, we were interested in testing their preference for feeding on the side, middle, or corners of a dish. Groups of fifty flies were allowed to feed on a patch of wells filled with sucrose solution for ninety minutes. They were filmed from above to record their location on the patch. We analyzed the recordings in five-minute increments and noted that the number of flies on the patch increased over time. We concluded that the flies have a significant preference for feeding on the sides and the corners of the patch. One of the possible explanations for this behavior is thigmotaxis during foraging behavior on the patch.