The irritable insect: higher level processes

我的研究解决了一个问题，即为什么（以及如何）动物对与它们觅食地点相关的奖励和危险的存在表现出不同的反应。 有时他们立即离开，但在其他情况下，他们继续寻找。 我的解释是基于一个简单的概念，一个带有滚动支点的跷跷板。 支点的位置取决于个体的内部条件（例如，在寻找食物时肠道有多空）。 因此，如果两个人的内在状态不同，那么他们对积极和消极线索（跷跷板的两端）的反应可能会有所不同。 我使用数学模型来确定这些线索的权重（即它们在跷跷板上推得有多用力），以达尔文的健身单位来衡量。 我使用上述模型来研究四种不同的逗留与离开问题的昆虫：栖息地定居模式的树皮甲虫种群，补丁开发模式的寄生蜂，蚊子的移民模式从东非的cadriiles和捕食性苍蝇的藤壶的开发。 这项工作包括两个部分，定量理论的发展，其次是实验，测试这些停留-离开模型的预测。 这项工作在林业、农业（生物控制）和医学（疟疾控制）方面都有应用。

My research addresses the question of why (and how) animals show different kinds of responses to the presence of rewards and danger associated with the site at which they are foraging. Sometimes they leave immediately but under other conditions they continue to search. My explanation is based upon a simple concept, a teeter-totter with a rolling fulcrum. The position of the fulcrum is determined by an individual's internal conditions (e.g. how empty its gut is while searching for food). Thus, two different individuals experiencing similar levels of success may respond differently to positive and negative cues (the ends of the teeter-totter) if they differ by internal state. I use mathematical models to determine the weights of these cues (i.e. how hard they push on the teeter-totter), measured in Darwinian fitness units. I use the above model to study four different stay versus leave problems by insects: Habitat settlement patterns in bark beetle populations, patch exploitation patterns in parasitoid wasps, emigration patterns of mosquitoes from domiciles in east Africa and exploitation of barnacles by predaceous flies. The work consists of two parts, development of quantitative theory followed by experiments that test predictions from these stay-leave models. This work has applications in forestry, agriculture (biological control), and medicine (malaria control).