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.2015 Dec 30;10(12):e0145055.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145055. eCollection 2015.

Effects of Floral Scent, Color and Pollen on Foraging Decisions and Oocyte Development of Common Green Bottle Flies

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Effects of Floral Scent, Color and Pollen on Foraging Decisions and Oocyte Development of Common Green Bottle Flies

Bekka S Brodie et al. PLoS One..

Abstract

The common green bottle fly Lucilia sericata (Meigen) and other filth flies frequently visit pollen-rich composite flowers such as the Oxeye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare Lam. In laboratory experiments with L. sericata, we investigated the effect of generic floral scent and color cues, and of Oxeye daisy-specific cues, on foraging decisions by recently eclosed flies. We also tested the effect of a floral pollen diet with 0-35% moisture content on the ability of females to mature their oocytes. Our data indicate that (1) young flies in the presence of generic floral scent respond more strongly to a uniformly yellow cue than to any other uniform color cue (green, white, black, blue, red) except for ultraviolet (UV); (2) the floral scent of Oxeye daisies enhances the attractiveness of a yellow cue; and (3) moisture-rich pollen provides nutrients that facilitate ovary maturation of flies. With evidence that L. sericata exploits floral cues during foraging, and that pollen can be an alternate protein source to animal feces and carrion, Pollen apparently plays a major role in the foraging ecology of L. sericata and possibly other filth flies. These flies, in turn, may play a significant role as pollinators, as supported by a recently published study.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests:The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. The commercial funder, Scotts Canada Limited, does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Details on the diet of experimental flies, olfactory and visual cues tested, numbers of flies tested per replicate, the duration of replicates, and numbers of replicates per experiment.
1Oxeye daisy inflorescence on 1-cm long stem;21-cm long stem without inflorescence;3honey bee-collected pollen;4% moisture content.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Graphical illustrations of experimental designs.
(A, B) Design of two-choice laboratory experiments (see Fig 1) with inverted bottle traps (see methods for detail), consisting of a green trap base and a funnel-like trap top covered with paper of a particular test color, and baited with honey (A), or with three freshly-cut Oxeye daisy inflorescences on 1-cm long stems or three corresponding stems (C) as the olfactory cues; (D) representative (n = 5 each) spectral reflectance profiles from (I) Oxeye daisy inflorescences [floral disc (yellow), petal tip (grey), petal base (black)], (II) yellow, white, red, blue, green, or black construction papers tested in color choice experiments, and (III) UV-reflective paper; the color of each reflectance curve inI-III corresponds to the color of the material measured; inI andIII, black curves represent UV reflections.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Effect of color cues on attraction ofLucilia sericata.
Mean proportions of 1-, 2-, and 3-day-old males and females captured in experiments 1–6 (n = 15 each; Fig 1) in inverted bottle traps (Fig 2A) that were baited with a generic floral scent (honey) and with a specific color cue (Fig 2D) covering the inner surface of the trap funnel. In each experiment, the number in parenthesis indicates the total number of flies captured, and an asterisk (*) on a bar indicates a significant preference for the test stimulus (Wilcoxon signed rank test,p < 0.05).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Effect of floral odor on attraction ofLucilia sericata.
Mean proportion of 36-h-old, females and males captured in experiment 7 (n = 15; Fig 1) in two inverted bottle traps (Fig 2A and 2B) with yellow trap funnels that were baited with either three freshly-cut Oxeye daisy inflorescences on 1-cm long stems or three corresponding stems (Fig 2C). The number in parenthesis indicates the total number of flies captured, and the asterisk (*) indicates a significant preference for the test stimulus (Z = -2.95, df = 1,p = 0.0028).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Interactions between visual and olfactory cues on attraction ofLucilia sericata.
Mean number of females and males captured in experiments 8–11 (n = 10 each; Fig 1) in paired bottle traps (Fig 2A and 2B) baited with the following cue combinations: Exp. 8: Yellow with Oxeye daisy inflorescence (Fig 2C)versus Black with Oxeye daisy inflorescence; Exp. 9: Yellow aloneversus Black alone; Exp. 10): Yellow aloneversus Black with Oxeye daisy inflorescence; and (Exp. 13): Yellow with Oxeye daisy inflorescenceversus Black alone. Replicates of all experiments were run in parallel but those for experiment 9 (which tested the effect of color only) were run in a separate room. Flies significantly preferred traps with yellow funnel tops (χ21 (1,N = 40)= 22.83,p < 0.001) and traps baited with Oxeye daisy inflorescence odor (χ21 (1,N = 40) = 22.8,p = 0.003) but there was no interaction between color and odor (χ21 (1,N = 40) = 0.018,p = 0.894).
Fig 6
Fig 6. Effect of diet on the ability ofLucilia sericata females to mature their oocytes.
To assess the effect of diet [sugar (negative control; Exp.12), Oxeye daisy pollen from fresh inflorescences (Exp. 13), honey bee-collected pollen with 0%, ≤20% or ≤35% moisture content (Exps. 14–16), and milk powder (positive control, Exp. 17) (n = 9 each; Fig 1) on the ability ofL.sericata females to mature their oocytes, we scored 10 phases of ovary development according to Adams & Reinecke (47) and grouped phases into three main stages: (I) phases 0–3: oocytes with dividing cells; (II) phases 4–9: oocytes with yolk sac, and (III) phase 10: mature and chorionated eggs. Diet had a significant effect on ovarian maturation (F2, 147 = 153.62,p < 0.0001). Within each of stage I, II and III, bars with different letters indicate significant differences in the mean proportions of fly oocytes at that stage based on diet (Tukey’s HSD:p <0.05).
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References

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This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Industrial Research Chair to G.G., with Scotts Canada Limited as the industrial partner (Project funding source's number: IRCPJ/310420-2013).

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