Understanding how polyphagous herbivores optimise foraging for multiple hosts remains unclear: prior experiences with hosts and the modification of subsequent behaviours (referred to in the broad sense as learning) have been proposed as one potential mechanism. A critical feature of learning is the effect of reward value, with learning and memory positively linked with reward quality. However, the links between host plant quality for offspring, prior experience and memory have not been researched in herbivorous insects. No‐choice and dual‐choice olfactometer assays were conducted to determine how prior oviposition experience on nine different fruits affected host preference, response times and the duration of altered response times (over subsequent days) in the polyphagous frugivore, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt). In no‐choice tests, the average time naïve B. tryoni took to respond to the different fruit odours differed and was directly correlated to larval host quality; for example, naïve females responded fastest to guava, a high‐quality larval host, and slowest to blueberry, a poor host. However, B. tryoni experienced on fruits for 24 h responded significantly faster to all fruits equally, regardless of fruit type. The duration of the experience‐based responses was directly correlated with fruit quality, with females displaying the longest response retention when experienced on high‐quality fruits and the shortest on low‐quality fruits. For B. tryoni, we demonstrate that the host responses following prior experience are influenced by the quality of a host plant for offspring survival.

中文翻译：

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记忆时间与多食性节食动物的寄主果实偏好和后代表现成正相关

尚不清楚多食性食草动物如何优化多个宿主的觅食：宿主的先前经验和对随后行为的修改（广义上称为学习）已被提议为一种潜在的机制。学习的一个关键特征是奖励价值的影响，学习和记忆与奖励质量呈正相关。然而，尚未在草食性昆虫中研究宿主植物后代的质量，先前的经验和记忆之间的联系。进行了非选择和双重选择嗅觉测定法，以确定多食性食肉蝇（Bactrocera tryoni）对九种不同水果的先前排卵经历如何影响寄主偏好，响应时间和变化的响应时间（在随后的几天中）（Froggatt）。在没有选择的测试中，幼稚B. tryoni响应不同水果气味所花费的平均时间有所不同，并且与幼虫寄主的品质直接相关。例如，幼稚的雌性对番石榴（一种高质量的幼体寄主）的反应最快，而对蓝莓（一种较差的寄主）的响应最慢。但是，无论果实类型如何，尝试24小时在果实上试食的B. tryoni对所有果实的反应均明显更快。基于经验的响应的持续时间与水果质量直接相关，当使用高质量水果时，女性表现出最长的响应保留时间，而对于劣质水果而言，表现出最短的响应保留时间。对于B. tryoni， 我们证明，根据先前的经验，宿主的反应受宿主植物后代存活质量的影响。