Effects of spatial knowledge and feeding experience on foraging choices in German cockroaches
Résumé
We investigated the importance of spatial knowledge of food positions and of feeding experience on foraging choices in German cockroaches, Blattella germanica (L.). We trained cockroaches in an arena to feed on a particular food close to a landmark. To test whether the landmark helped guide cockroaches to the site, we removed the food and put the landmark in a different position. Cockroaches then went to the site indicated by the landmark. Given a choice between novel food in a new site and the known food in the known site, cockroaches preferred the novel food. But when the novel food was placed in the known site and the known food elsewhere, cockroaches were attracted to the latter. Thus, they differentiated novel food placed in a site that was previously occupied by the known food from novel food in a novel site. It seems that cockroaches learn the locations of specific resources in their home range and associate particular locations with particular resources. (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.