Data from: Foraging actively can be advantageous in heterogeneous environments

A wealth of evidence indicates that behavioral polymorphism is widespread
in nature. While some organisms search for food by moving almost
continuously throughout their environment, other organisms forage in one
place for long periods of time. Although such a dichotomy has been
previously documented in Drosophila melanogaster, the question remains
which foraging strategy is better suited to maximize energy intake in a
particular environment. We designed an experiment to evaluate whether the
configuration of food in the environment alters the foraging behavior of
two larval strains. Assuming that one of the strains acquires more food
than the other in a given environment, we examined whether variation in
growth occurred between them. Our results indicate that foraging behavior
is a plastic trait, shaped by the configuration of food in the
environment. Regardless of the foraging strategy, we found that larvae
generally increased their locomotion when food was patchy rather than
clumped. Even though we observed that some individuals actively sought
food while others stayed foraging at nearby sites, we found no differences
in growth rate between them. However, we suggest that foraging actively
may be advantageous in polymorphic populations because such behavior
facilitates local adaptation via founder effect and gene flow.