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    Exploring Variation in Learning Ability in Pieris rapae, the Cabbage White Butterfly

    Cover for Exploring Variation in Learning Ability in Pieris rapae, the Cabbage White Butterfly
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    View/Open: Power_georgetown_0076M_12378.pdf (328kB) Bookview

    Creator
    Power, Lillian
    Advisor
    Weiss, Martha R
    Abstract
    Learning abilities allow animals to modify their behaviors based on experience; such plasticity provides an adaptive mechanism for responding to environmental unpredictability. As with any heritable trait subject to natural selection, learning ability can vary both within and across insect species, suggesting costs to maintaining the ability to learn. In this thesis I explored two different aspects of variation in learning ability in the Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae. First, I evaluated whether P. rapae learn two different visual stimuli (color and shape) at the same rate and proficiency in a foraging context. While learning abilities of different stimuli within a given sensory modality have been studied in other insects, visual learning abilities aside from color in butterflies have received little attention. I found that while Pieris rapae is capable of learning shape in association with a food reward, color is a more salient cue in a foraging context. Second, I compared life history traits, foraging behavior, and learning abilities of a wild and a laboratory population of P. rapae to assess how differences in both genetic makeup and environment can alter phenotypes within a species. I found that the two populations differ in timing of development for several life stages, and that foraging behavior and learning abilities diverged based on population origin. The findings from these two studies provide new evidence for how variation in learning abilities depends on type of stimulus, and can also be affected by environmental pressures and genetic processes.
    Description
    M.S.
    Permanent Link
    http://hdl.handle.net/10822/559466
    Date Published
    2013
    Subject
    foraging behavior; laboratory evolution; learning; multimodal cues; Pieris rapae; Animal behavior; Ecology; Evolution (Biology); Animal behavior; Ecology; Evolution & development;
    Type
    thesis
    Embargo Lift Date
    2015-09-12
    Publisher
    Georgetown University
    Extent
    66 leaves
    Collections
    • Graduate Theses and Dissertations - Biology
    Metadata
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    Georgetown University Seal
    ©2009 - 2022 Georgetown University Library
    37th & O Streets NW
    Washington DC 20057-1174
    202.687.7385
    digitalscholarship@georgetown.edu
    Accessibility