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Updated: Mar 6, 2026
An Inexpensive, Scalable Behavioral Assay for Measuring Ethanol Sedation Sensitivity and Rapid Tolerance in Drosophila
Published on: April 15, 2015
Larval reaction to alcohol as an indicator of resource utilization differences between Drosophila melanogaster and D.
1Department of Genetics and Human Variation, La Trobe University, 3083, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
Abstract:
Newly hatched larvae of Drosophila melanogaster derived from southern Australian populations (37-38° S) have a strong preference for agar containing alcohol, while larvae of sympatric populations of Drosophila simulans show no initial preference. The alcohol preference of a more northern D. melanogaster population (10° S) is lower due to a high level of variability among isofemale strains. This agree with the general principle of decreasing biological diversity with increasing latitude, and is shown here for a simple behavioural trait with a chemical basis. The results are of application to the ecological biology of resource utilization in the wild.
