1. What are the costs of learning? Modest trade-offs and constitutive costs do not set the price of fast associative learning ability in a parasitoid wasp
- Author
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Cécile Le Lann, Jacintha Ellers, Jessica L. Rohmann, Maartje Liefting, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam [Amsterdam] (VU), Freie Universität Berlin, Charité - UniversitätsMedizin = Charité - University Hospital [Berlin], Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes] (ECOBIO), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 820.01.023, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, LI 2990/1-1, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, European Project: 274386,EC:FP7:PEOPLE,FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF,COEVOLCLIM(2011), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement (INEE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES), and Animal Ecology
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,media_common.quotation_subject ,fecundity ,Control (management) ,Conditioning, Classical ,Longevity ,Wasps ,education ,Nasonia ,egg load ,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology ,relaxed selection ,Biology ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Parasitoid wasp ,global cost ,Nasonia vitripennis ,memory ,03 medical and health sciences ,Memory ,Economic cost ,Econometrics ,Animals ,Learning ,Global cost ,10. No inequality ,Set (psychology) ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,health care economics and organizations ,030304 developmental biology ,media_common ,0303 health sciences ,Original Paper ,Cost–benefit analysis ,[SDV.NEU.SC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]/Cognitive Sciences ,SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities ,biology.organism_classification ,Relaxed selection ,Associative learning ,[SDV.BA.ZI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Invertebrate Zoology ,Fecundity ,Egg load ,[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology - Abstract
Learning ability has been associated with energetic costs that typically become apparent through trade-offs in a wide range of developmental, physiological, and life-history traits. Costs associated with learning ability can be either constitutive or induced, depending on whether they are always incurred or only when information is actively learned and memorized. Using lines of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis that were selected for fast associative learning ability, we assessed a range of traits that have previously been identified as potential costs associated with learning. No difference in longevity, lipid reserves, tibia length, egg load, or fecundity was observed between the selected and control lines. All of these traits are considered to potentially lead to constitutive costs in the setup of this study. A gradual reversal to baseline learning after two forms of relaxed selection was indicative of a small constitutive cost of learning ability. We also tested for a trade-off with other memory types formed at later stages, but found no evidence that the mid-term memory that was selected for caused a decrease in performance of other memory types. In conclusion, we observe only one minor effect of a constitutive cost and none of the other costs and trade-offs that are reported in the literature to be of significant value in this case. We, therefore, argue for better inclusion of ecological and economic costs in studies on costs and benefits of learning ability. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10071-019-01281-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Published
- 2019
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