Insect Learning: Ecology and Evolutionary Perspectives

✍ Scribed by Elizabeth A. Bernays (auth.), Daniel R. Papaj, Alcinda C. Lewis (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 410
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Insect Learning is a comprehensive review of a new field. Until recently, insects were viewed as rigidly programmed automatons; now, however, it is recognized that they can learn and that their behavior is plastic. This fundamental change in viewpoint is causing a re-examination of all aspects of the relationship between insects and their environment. This change in perspective is occurring at a time of heightened interest in brain function in both vertebrates and invertebrates. Insects potentially play a major role in this expanding area. Because of their experimental tractability and genetic diversity, they provide unique opportunities for testing hypotheses on the ecology and evolution of learning. As organisms of economic importance, they are perennial objects of research by both basic and applied scientists.
Insect Learning covers both social and non-social insects from multiple perspectives. The book covers mechanisms; syntheses of work on physiology, behavior, and ecology; and micro- and macroevolution. The concluding section discusses future directions for research, including applications to pest management.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Aversion Learning and Feeding....Pages 1-17
Ethological and Comparative Perspectives on Honey Bee Learning....Pages 18-50
Learning of Host-Finding Cues by Hymenopterous Parasitoids....Pages 51-78
Functional Organization of Appetitive Learning and Memory in a Generalist Pollinator, the Honey Bee....Pages 79-125
Merging Mechanism and Adaptation: An Ethological Approach to Learning and Generalization....Pages 126-157
Motivation, Learning, and Motivated Learning....Pages 158-173
Choosing Hosts and Mates: The Value of Learning....Pages 174-194
Learning and Behavioral Ecology: Incomplete Information and Environmental Predictability....Pages 195-218
Learning and the Evolution of Resources: Pollinators and Flower Morphology....Pages 219-242
Automatic Behavior and the Evolution of Instinct: Lessons From Learning in Parasitoids....Pages 243-272
Comparative and Experimental Approaches to Understanding Insect Learning....Pages 273-307
Application of Learning to Pest Management....Pages 308-342
Cognition in Bees: From Stimulus Reception to Behavioral Change....Pages 343-373
Afterword: Learning, Adaptation, and the Lessons of O ....Pages 374-386
Back Matter....Pages 387-398

✦ Subjects

Animal Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Ecology; Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography