Nutritional quality during early life can affect learning ability and memory retention of animals. Here we studied the effect of resource quality gained during larval development on the learning ability and memory retention of 2 sympatric strains of similar genetic background of the parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae : one uninfected and one infected by Wolbachia.
Here we studied, for the first time, the interaction between resource quality and Wolbachia infection on memory retention and resource acquisition. Memory retention of uninfected wasps was significantly longer when reared on high quality hosts when compared to low quality hosts. Furthermore, uninfected wasps emerging from high quality hosts showed higher values of protein and triglyceride than those emerging from low quality hosts.
In contrast, the memory retention for infected wasps was the same irrespective of host quality, although retention was significantly lower than uninfected wasps. No significant effect of host quality on capital resource amount of infected wasps was observed, and infected wasps displayed a lower amount of protein and triglyceride than uninfected wasps when reared on high quality hosts.
This study suggests that the nutritional quality of the embryonic period can affect memory retention of adult wasps not infected by Wolbachia. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
Sign In or Create an Account. Sign In. Advanced Search. Search Menu. Article Navigation. Close mobile search navigation Article Navigation. Volume Article Contents. Lay Summary. Early life nutritional quality effects on adult memory retention in a parasitic wasp Hossein Kishani Farahani.
