Learning & Memory in Fruit Flies
Scientists have traditionally viewed learning and memory as "complex traits" in the sense that they are believed to be the net result of various different genetic and enviornmental factors interacting with one another. As it is not always practical or ethical to use human sujects in research, simpler "model" organisism are often used, and drosophila melanogaster (i.e. the fruit fly) is one of the most well known and well studied in the biological sciences.
This website was created by a group of student at the University of Arizona as part of the MCB181 honors biology course. It aims to share and explain the research of Frederick Mery & Tadeusz Kawecki regarding the evolution of learning and memory in fruit flies.