Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies
ABSTRACT In flower‐visiting insects, innate sensory preferences facilitate efficient foraging strategies in complex natural environments. Here we describe a nonforced choice assay to investigate innate attraction to a common nectar resource (Lantana camara) in naïve monarch butterflies (Danaus plexi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71533 |
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| author | Darene A. E. Assadia Delbert A. Green II |
| author_facet | Darene A. E. Assadia Delbert A. Green II |
| author_sort | Darene A. E. Assadia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT In flower‐visiting insects, innate sensory preferences facilitate efficient foraging strategies in complex natural environments. Here we describe a nonforced choice assay to investigate innate attraction to a common nectar resource (Lantana camara) in naïve monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). We find that monarch butterflies have an innate attraction to L. camara in our assay. Visual cues are necessary and sufficient for sustained attraction at the tested range. However, olfactory cues increase the salience of visual cues for sustained attraction. The identities of the specific attractive visual or olfactory cues are not resolved. Altogether, this simple nonforced choice assay is suited to reveal quantitative differences in innate attraction in monarchs and, presumably, other insects. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-161d62c2c0e04fc9a8dcab68d96aa9f9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-161d62c2c0e04fc9a8dcab68d96aa9f92025-08-20T02:43:38ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-06-01156n/an/a10.1002/ece3.71533Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch ButterfliesDarene A. E. Assadia0Delbert A. Green II1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan—Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Michigan USADepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Michigan—Ann Arbor Ann Arbor Michigan USAABSTRACT In flower‐visiting insects, innate sensory preferences facilitate efficient foraging strategies in complex natural environments. Here we describe a nonforced choice assay to investigate innate attraction to a common nectar resource (Lantana camara) in naïve monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). We find that monarch butterflies have an innate attraction to L. camara in our assay. Visual cues are necessary and sufficient for sustained attraction at the tested range. However, olfactory cues increase the salience of visual cues for sustained attraction. The identities of the specific attractive visual or olfactory cues are not resolved. Altogether, this simple nonforced choice assay is suited to reveal quantitative differences in innate attraction in monarchs and, presumably, other insects.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71533migrationmonarch butterflymultimodal signalingsensory perception |
| spellingShingle | Darene A. E. Assadia Delbert A. Green II Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies Ecology and Evolution migration monarch butterfly multimodal signaling sensory perception |
| title | Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies |
| title_full | Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies |
| title_fullStr | Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies |
| title_short | Innate Nectar Plant Attraction Is Primarily Visually‐Guided but Olfactory‐Stimulated in North American Monarch Butterflies |
| title_sort | innate nectar plant attraction is primarily visually guided but olfactory stimulated in north american monarch butterflies |
| topic | migration monarch butterfly multimodal signaling sensory perception |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71533 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dareneaeassadia innatenectarplantattractionisprimarilyvisuallyguidedbutolfactorystimulatedinnorthamericanmonarchbutterflies AT delbertagreenii innatenectarplantattractionisprimarilyvisuallyguidedbutolfactorystimulatedinnorthamericanmonarchbutterflies |