Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental evolution of color preference for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster

  • Published:
Journal of Bioeconomics Aims and scope

Abstract

Preferences are the foundation of economics. Preferences are taken by economists as fixed by some implicitly biological process. In recent decades, behavioral economics has documented the divergence between the nature of human preferences and the assumptions of standard economics. In this study, we use the tool of experimental evolution to study the evolution of color preferences in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). In particular, we select for a preference for laying eggs on the color aqua. We find that the flies evolve to lay more than twice as many eggs on aqua. However, this evolution occurs entirely because the flies lay more eggs overall. The flies in this study, do not evolve to lay a higher percentage of eggs on the selected color, aqua.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abed-Vieillard, D., Cortot, J., Everaerts C., & Ferveur J. F. (2013). Choice alters Drosophila oviposition site preference on menthol. Biology Open. https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.20136973.

  • Brembs, B., & de Ibarra, N. H. (2006). Different parameters support generalization and discrimination learning in Drosophila at the flight simulator. Learning & Memory, 13(5), 629–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, T. J., & Lo, A. W. (2011). The origin of behavior. Quarterly Journal of Finance, 01(01), 55–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, M. K., Dunham, J. P., Shahrestani, P., Thornton, K. R., Rose, M. R., & Long, A. D. (2010). Genome-wide analysis of a long-term evolution experiment with Drosophila. Nature, 467(7315), 587–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham, T. C., Dunlap, A., & Stephens, D. W. (2015). Experimental evolution and economics. SAGE Open, 5(4), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carfagna, M., & Lancieri, M. (1971). Colour vision and the choice of substrate during oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster Meig. Monitore Zoologico Italiano-Italian Journal of Zoology, 5(4), 215–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, J., Baer, B., & Weber, E. J. (2016). Evolutionary biology in economics: A review. Economic Record, 92(297), 291–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Solar, E., Guijón, A. M., & Walker, L. (1974). Choice of colored substrates for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster. Italian Journal of Zoology, 41(3), 253–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Del Solar, E., & Ruiz, G. (1979). Behaviour changes in Drosophila melanogaster in the choice of colored substrates for oviposition. Italian Journal of Zoology, 46(1–2), 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dulai, K. S., von Dornum, M., Mollon, J. D., & Hunt, D. M. (1999). The evolution of trichromatic color vision by opsin gene duplication in New World and Old World primates. Genome Research, 9(7), 629–638.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap, A. S., & Stephens, D. W. (2014). Experimental evolution of prepared learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(32), 11750–11755.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dweck, H. K., Ebrahim, S. A., Kromann, S., Bown, D., Hillbur, Y., Sachse, S., Hansson, B. S., Stensmyr, M. C. (2013). Olfactory preference for egg laying on citrus substrates in Drosophila. Current Biology, 23(24), 2472–2480.

  • Erclik, T., Hartenstein, V., McInnes, R. R., & Lipshitz, H. D. (2009). Eye evolution at high resolution: The neuron as a unit of homology. Developmental Biology, 332(1), 70–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foucaud, J., Moreno, C., Pascual, M., Rezende, E. L., Castaneda, L. E., Gibert, P., Mery, F. (2016). Introduced Drosophila subobscura populations perform better than native populations during an oviposition choice task due to increased fecundity but similar learning ability. Ecology and Evolution, 6(6), 1725–1736.

  • Fox, C. W., & Rauter, C. M. (2003). Bet-hedging and the evolution of multiple mating. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 5(2), 273–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frentiu, F. D., Bernard, G. D., Sison-Mangus, M. P., Van Zandt Brower, A., & Briscoe, A. D. (2007). Gene duplication is an evolutionary mechanism for expanding spectral diversity in the long-wavelength photopigments of butterflies. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 24(9), 2016–2028.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Bellido, P. T., Wardill, T. J., & Juusola, M. (2011). Compound eyes and retinal information processing in miniature dipteran species match their specific ecological demands. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(10), 4224–4229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, I., & Stuart, C. (1990). Malthusian selection of preferences. American Economic Review, 80(3), 529–544.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, I., & Stuart, C. (1992). Socialization and altruism. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2(4), 301–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harzsch, S., Melzer, R. R., & Müller, C. H. (2007). Mechanisms of eye development and evolution of the arthropod visual system: The lateral eyes of Myriapoda are not modified insect ommatidia. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 7(1), 20–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heisenberg, M., & Wolf, R. (2013). Vision in Drosophila: Genetics of microbehavior. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, R. M., Devineni, A. V., King, I. F., & Heberlein, U. (2009). Oviposition preference for and positional avoidance of acetic acid provide a model for competing behavioral drives in Drosophila. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(27), 11352–11357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J., & Thaler, R. H. (1991). Anomalies: The endowment effect, loss aversion, and status quo bias. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 193–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozmik, Z. (2008). The role of Pax genes in eye evolution. Brain Research Bulletin, 75(2), 335–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mery, F., & Kawecki, T. J. (2002). Experimental evolution of learning ability in fruit flies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(22), 14274–14279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, P. M., Saltz, J. B., Cochrane, V. A., Marcinkowski, C. M., Mobin, R., & Turner, T. L. (2011). Natural variation in decision-making behavior in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS ONE, 6(1), e16436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panchanathan, K., & Boyd, R. (2003). A tale of two defectors: The importance of standing for evolution of indirect reciprocity. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 224(1), 115–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, K. J., & Eernisse, D. J. (2016). The phylogeny, evolutionary developmental biology, and paleobiology of the Deuterostomia: 25 years of new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas. Organisms Diversity & Evolution, 16(2), 401–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robson, A. (1994). The evolution of attitudes to risk: Lottery tickets and relative wealth. Mimeo: University of Western Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robson, A. J., Szentes, B., & Iantchev, E. (2012). The evolutionary basis of time preference: Intergenerational transfers and sex. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 4(4), 172–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, A. R. (1994). Evolution of time preference by natural selection. American Economic Review, 84(3), 460–481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. (1984). Laboratory evolution of postponed senescence in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution, 38, 1004–1010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, P. H., & Paul, C. W. (1979). An evolutionary model of tastes for risk. Economic Inquiry, 17(4), 585–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salcedo, E., Huber, A., Henrich, S., Chadwell, L. V., Chou, W.-H., Paulsen, R., Britt, S. G. (1999). Blue-and green-absorbing visual pigments of Drosophila: Ectopic expression and physiological characterization of the R8 photoreceptor cell-specific Rh5 and Rh6 rhodopsins. Journal of Neuroscience, 19(24), 10716–10726.

  • Salomon, C. H., & Spatz, H.-C. (1983). Colour vision in Drosophila melanogaster: Wavelength discrimination. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, 150(1), 31–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schnaitmann, C., Garbers, C., Wachtler, T., & Tanimoto, H. (2013). Color discrimination with broadband photoreceptors. Current Biology, 23(23), 2375–2382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stigler, G. J., & Becker, G. S. (1977). De Gustibus Non Est Disputam. The American Economic Review, 67(2), 76–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, T., Takayama, R., & Sato, M. (2016). Eyeless/Pax6 controls the production of glial cells in the visual center of Drosophila melanogaster. Developmental Biology, 409(2), 343–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgement under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Washington, C. G. (2010). Color vision in Drosophila melanogaster. New York: Columbia University.

  • Yang, C.-H., Belawat, P., Hafen, E., Jan, L. Y., & Jan, Y.-N. (2008). Drosophila egg-laying site selection as a system to study simple decision-making processes. Science, 319(5870), 1679–1683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J. (2003). Evolution by gene duplication: An update. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 18(6), 292–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, J., Palliyil, S., Ran, C., & Kumar, J. P. (2017). Drosophila Pax6 promotes development of the entire eye-antennal disc, thereby ensuring proper adult head formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(23), 5846–5853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank Ulrich Witt, Editor of the Journal of Bioeconomics who ran the review process for this paper, and two anonymous reviewers, for their excellent comments. We also thank Pamela Tocco, Toni Walker, the students of the Dunlap Lab, and the extended Marcus-Yoakum family. In addition, we would like to thank Itachi Mills for working on an independent verification of the preference and fecundity effects. The work was supported, in part, by NSF Grant: IOS-1021183

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Missouri, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Mellissa Marcus & Aimee S. Dunlap

  2. Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA

    Terence C. Burnham

  3. College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    David W. Stephens

Authors
  1. Mellissa Marcus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Terence C. Burnham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David W. Stephens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Aimee S. Dunlap
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aimee S. Dunlap.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Marcus, M., Burnham, T.C., Stephens, D.W. et al. Experimental evolution of color preference for oviposition in Drosophila melanogaster . J Bioecon 20, 125–140 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-017-9261-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-017-9261-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation