Abstract
Learning is widely documented across animal taxa but studies stringently scrutinizing the causes of constitutive or operational variation of learning among populations and individuals are scarce. The ability to learn is genetically determined and subject to constitutive variation while the performance in learning depends on the immediate circumstances and is subject to operational variation. We assessed variation in learning ability and performance of plant-inhabiting predatory mites, Amblyseius swirskii, caused by population origin, rearing diet, and type of experience. Using an early learning foraging paradigm, we determined that homogeneous single prey environments did not select for reduced learning ability, as compared to natural prey-diverse environments, whereas a multi-generational pollen diet resulted in loss of learning, as compared to a diet of live prey. Associative learning produced stronger effects than non-associative learning but both types of experience produced persistent memory. Our study represents a key example of environmentally caused variation in learning ability and performance.
Highlights
Learning definitions differ between scientific disciplines and contexts [1], but from a behavioral perspective learning is broadly defined as experience-based change in behavior [2]
Our study provides evidence that thrips experience by A. swirskii females early in life alters their behavior towards this prey as adults, and is one of a few studies rigorously comparing the effects of associative and non-associative learning in one and the same learning task
Rearing diet had a decisive influence on learning performance, but our experimental design was not apt to elucidate the mechanisms of the compromised learning ability of predatory mites reared on pollen
Summary
Learning definitions differ between scientific disciplines and contexts [1], but from a behavioral perspective learning is broadly defined as experience-based change in behavior [2]. Learning is a highly important tool for animals to flexibly adjust their behavior in variable environments. While learning as such is well documented across animal taxa, rigorous studies addressing the factors causing variation of learning are scarce [10]. The ability to learn and to memorize past experiences is genetically determined, shaped by natural selection and, subject to constitutive variation; the learning performance is strongly dependent on the immediate context and, subject to operational variation. We scrutinized constitutive and proximate (operational) variation in learning by the plant-inhabiting predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii AthiasHenriot (Phytoseiidae) in foraging contexts.
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