Age-specific and lifetime behavior patterns in Drosophila melanogaster and the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata.
Patterns of behavior were recorded every 10 min during a 2-h period each day from eclosion to death for individual Drosophila melanogaster (both sexes) and Ceratitis capitata (males-only) including walking, preening, feeding, flying, and resting for the former species, and walking, calling (signaling), supine (upside-down), and resting in the latter. Results reveal that, with the exception of preening in D. melanogaster, behavioral patterns are age-specific and the frequency of several behaviors (e.g. supine in medfly; walking and resting in D. melanogaster) are correlated with time-to-death. This is the first set of studies to report the age patterns over a range of behavioral categories throughout the lives of individuals and thus the first that systematically documents the behavior of individuals at advanced ages. We suggest that the new and unique behaviors (e.g. supine) that emerge from the aging process be referred to as degenerative behaviors, not only to distinguish them from the conventional behavioral classifications (innate, learned), but also to reflect their emergent nature.
Carey
James R
JR
Department of Entomology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. jrcarey@ucdavis.edu
Papadopoulos
Nikos
N
Kouloussis
Nikos
N
Katsoyannos
Byron
B
Müller
Hans-Georg
HG
Wang
Jane-Ling
JL
Tseng
Yi-Kuan
YK
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D033622:Ceratitis capitata / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008136:Longevity / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology; D016683:Supine Position / Q000502:physiology