caa a22 4500 477076017 CHVBK 20180405111438.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170330e19960601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF02514977 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF02514977 The learning abilities of the white cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae , foraging for flowers [Elektronische Daten] [Ikuo Kandori, Naota Ohsaki] This study examines the role of learning and memory in the butterflyPieris rapae crucivora Boisduval during foraging for flowers. In an outdoor cage with 6 flower species,P. rapae showed various visiting patterns: some visited only one species, while others visited several species in a day. The foraging process for flowers ofErigeron annuus (L.) Pers. could be divided into two successive steps: (1) landing on the nectaring caputs, and (2) finding the source of nectar in the caput. Butterflies learned to proceed through the two steps more efficiently with successive attempts: they gradually decreased landings on nectarless caputs and probings on the nectarless petals of ligulate flowers respectively. As a result, handling time per unit caputs became shorter, and apparent rewards per unit time, i.e. the efficiency of collecting nectar, increased. In addition, once learned,P. rapae could remember a rewarding flower color for 3 days, which was not interfered with by learning another flower color. This indicates thatP. rapae keeps memory for a period longer than 3 days, and that they can remember at least two flower species as suitable flower resources. Furthermore, data indicated that they sometimes can apply the foraging skills obtained on other flower species to a novel one. These abilities could enable butterflies to easily switch flower species, or to enhance labile preference. It has been known thatP. rapae also shows flower constancy, which may be due to memory constraints. Therefore, they may appropriately use two foraging tactics: visit consistency and labile preference, to get enough nectar according to their circumstances. Society of Population Ecology, 1996 learning nationallicence Pieris rapae nationallicence flower color nationallicence memory nationallicence flower constancy nationallicence Kandori Ikuo Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 606, Kyoto, Japan aut Ohsaki Naota Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 606, Kyoto, Japan aut Researches on Population Ecology Springer-Verlag 38/1(1996-06-01), 111-117 0034-5466 38:1<111 1996 38 10144 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02514977 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02514977 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kandori Ikuo Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 606, Kyoto, Japan aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ohsaki Naota Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 606, Kyoto, Japan aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Researches on Population Ecology Springer-Verlag 38/1(1996-06-01), 111-117 0034-5466 38:1<111 1996 38 10144 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer