Data from: Specialization and accuracy of host-searching butterflies in complex and simple environments

Populations that have access to a variety of resources are often composed
of individuals that specialize on different subsets of resources.
Understanding the behavioral mechanisms that drive such individual
specialization will help us predict the strength of this specialization
across different environments. Here, we explore the idea that individual
specialization may be a consequence of constraints on an individual’s
ability to process information. Because many environments contain an
overwhelming number of resources and associated stimuli, individuals that
specialize by focusing on only a subset of these resources may make more
accurate decisions than individuals that generalize. Furthermore, we
expect individuals in complex environments, where there are more resources
and associated stimuli to process, to specialize during their search for
resources compared to individuals in simple environments. We tested these
predictions by measuring the accuracy and degree of specialization of
naïve cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae) searching for two target
host species (radish and cabbage) in simple (one distractor species) and
more complex (four distractor species) environments. Only butterflies that
specialized on cabbage were more accurate than butterflies that visited a
mixture of both radish and cabbage. Furthermore, naïve butterflies
searching for hosts in complex environments did not adopt more specialized
foraging strategies than naive butterflies searching for hosts in simple
environments. Taken together, these results suggest that the foraging
benefits associated with specialization might only apply to certain
resources (perhaps those that have readily recognizable cues) and that
such specializations can be related to accuracy across multiple
environments.