Abstract
Many motile organisms localize the source of attractive
odorants by following plumes upwind. In the case of
D. melanogaster, little is known of how individuals alter
their flight trajectories after encountering and losing a
plume of an attractive odorant. We have characterized the
three-dimensional flight behavior of D. melanogaster in a wind
tunnel under a variety of odor conditions. In the absence of
olfactory cues, hungry flies initiate flight and display
anemotactic orientation. Following contact with a narrow
ribbon plume of an attractive odor, flies reduce their
crosswind velocity while flying faster upwind, resulting in a
surge directed toward the odor source. Following loss of odor
contact due to plume truncation, flies frequently initiate a
stereotyped crosswind casting response, a behavior rarely
observed in a continuous odor plume. Similarly, within a
homogeneous odor cloud, flies move fast while maintaining an
upwind heading. These results indicate both similarities and
differences between the behavior of D. melanogaster and the
responses of male moths to pheromone plumes, suggesting
possible differences in underlying neural mechanisms.
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