Exploring innate and learned sensory behaviors in drosophila under natural and perturbed contexts

Animals must balance innate sensory preferences with learning to adapt their behavior to changing environments. In this thesis, Drosophila was used as a model to investigate how innate and learned sensory behaviors are shaped by ecological specialization and anthropogenic disturbance. Combining behavioral assays, functional imaging, and comparative approaches across species, this work examines sensory function under natural and perturbed contexts. First, utilizing complex fermented substrates, species-specific olfactory preferences were investigated in both generalist and specialist species. Distinct microbial- and plant-derived volatiles drove differential attraction, which was reflected in species-specific activity patterns in the antennal lobe. These results link ecological niche differences to neural odor coding and provide insights for developing selective monitoring strategies. Second, the relationship between ecological specialization and cognitive flexibility was examined by comparing olfactory learning across generalist and specialist species. While generalists and seasonal specialists showed strong associative learning, the dietary specialist exhibited weak learning and persistent innate preferences, suggesting a trade-off between specialization and behavioral plasticity. Third, visual learning experiments demonstrated that phototactic behavior and learning vary across species and are influenced by their native light environments. Finally, the effects of anthropogenic stress were assessed by exposing D. melanogaster to environmentally relevant ozone levels. Ozone caused subtle, odor- and sex-dependent changes in behavior and neural responses without major effects on overall fitness, indicating that air pollution can influence sensory processing. Together, these findings show that sensory behavior arises from the interaction of innate circuitry, learning capacity, ecological specialization, and environmental change.