Mating affects resource selection and modulates associational effects between neighbouring resources

Associational effects occur when the attack rate on a resource depends on neighbouring resources in the environment. These effects are predicted to result from mismatches experienced by the consumer organism in resource selection along hierarchical search levels. As resource selection depends on sensory information used during search behaviour, we expected that different physiological states of an insect might modulate the outcome of associational effects due to differences in resource selection. We used Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism for olfactory-guided behaviour in insects, to study the effects of mating induced behavioural changes on associational effects between two alternative resources. We found that mating has no effect on the ability of D. melanogaster to locate resource patches, but rather affects the perception of the resources within the patch. Consequently, we only found associational effects in the experiments with unmated females and not in the experiments w...关联效应（Associational effects）是指当某一资源的攻击率依赖于环境中相邻资源时所产生的生态学效应。这类效应被认为源于消费者生物在分层搜索层级开展资源选择过程中所遭遇的错配现象。由于资源选择依赖于搜索行为中所使用的感官信息，我们推测昆虫的不同生理状态可通过资源选择的差异，对关联效应的最终结果产生调节作用。本研究以黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）作为昆虫嗅觉导向行为的模式生物，探究交配诱导的行为变化对两类备选资源间关联效应的影响。研究发现，交配并不会影响黑腹果蝇定位资源斑块的能力，而是会改变其对斑块内资源的感知。因此，我们仅在未交配雌性个体的实验中观测到了关联效应，而在……（原文未完整呈现）的实验中未发现此类效应。