Experimental arena settings might lead to misinterpretation of movement properties  

作　　者：Inon Scharf Kimberley Hanna Daphna Gottlieb 

机构地区：[1]The George S.Wise Faculty of Life Sciences,School of Zoology,Tel Aviv University,Tel Aviv,Israel [2]Department of Food Science,Institute of Post-Harvest and Food Science,Volcani Center,ARO,Rishon LeZion,Israel

出　　处：《Insect Science》2024年第1期271-284,共14页昆虫科学（英文版）

摘　　要：Movement is an important animal behavior contributing to reproduction and survival.Animal movement is often examined in arenas or enclosures under laboratory conditions.We used the red flour beetle(Tribolium castaneum)to examine here the effect of the arena size,shape,number of barriers,access to the arena's center,and illumination on six movement properties.We demonstrate great differences among arenas.For example,the beetles moved over longer distances in clear arenas than in obstructed ones.Movement along the arena's perimeter was greater in smaller arenas than in larger ones.Movement was more directional in round arenas than in rectangular ones.In general,the beetles stopped moving closer to the perimeter and closer to corners(in the square and rectangular arenas)than expected by chance.In some cases,the arena properties interacted with the beetle sex to affect several movement properties.All these suggest that arena properties might also interact with experimental manipulations to affect the outcome of studies and lead to results specific to the arena used.In other words,instead of examining animal movement,we in fact examine the animal interaction with the arena structure.Caution is therefore advised in interpreting the results of studies on movement in arenas under laboratory conditions and we recommend paying attention also to barriers or obstacles in field experiments.For instance,movement along the arena's perimeter is often interpreted as centrophobism or thigmotaxis but the results here show that such movement is arena dependent.

关 键 词：activity centrophobism correlated random walk laboratory experiments movement ecology wall-following behavior 

分 类 号：Q96[生物学—昆虫学]