Many animals use visual cues like object shape, color, and motion to detect and pursue conspecific mates. Contrast is another possibly informative visual cue, but has not been studied in great detail. In this study, we presented male Drosophila melanogaster with small, fly-sized, moving objects painted either black, white, or grey to test if they use contrast cues to identify mates. We found that males frequently chased grey objects and rarely chased white or black objects. Although males started chasing black objects as often as grey objects, the resulting chases were much shorter. To test whether the attraction to grey objects was mediated via contrast, we fabricated black and grey behavioral chambers. However, wildtype males almost never chased any objects in these darkly colored chambers. To circumvent this limitation, we increased baseline levels of chasing by thermogenetically activating P1 neurons to promote courtship. Males with thermogenetically activated P1 neurons maintained a similar preference for grey objects despite elevated levels of courtship behavior. When placed in a black chamber, males with activated P1 neurons switched their preference and chased black objects more than grey objects. We also tested whether males use contrast cues to orient to particular parts of the female body during courtship. When presented with moving objects painted two colors, males positioned themselves next to the grey half regardless of whether the other half was painted black or white. These results suggest that males can use contrast to recognize potential mates and to position themselves during courtship.
Tracked data files, females glued on magnets
Data from males flies paired with virgin females glued on magnets. *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
fem on mag.zip
Tracked data files, oe minus females glued on magnets
Data from males flies paired with virgin females with genetically ablated oenocytes glued on magnets. *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
oeminus fem on mag.rar
Tracked data files, different backgrounds
Data from males flies paired with differently painted dummies in one of three chambers -- black, white, or grey. *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
diff bg.zip
Differently painted dummies, part 1
Data from males flies paired with differently painted dummies. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts. *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
painted mags.zip.001
dummies painted two colors, part 1
Data from males flies paired with rectangular dummies painted two colors. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 1). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
bicolored mags.zip.001
Differently painted dummies, part 2
Data from males flies paired with differently painted dummies. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 2). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
painted mags.zip.002
Differently painted dummies, part 3
Data from males flies paired with differently painted dummies. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 3). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
painted mags.zip.003
dummies painted two colors, part 2
Data from males flies paired with rectangular dummies painted two colors. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 2). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
bicolored mags.zip.002
dummies painted two colors, part 3
Data from males flies paired with rectangular dummies painted two colors. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 3). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
bicolored mags.zip.003
dummies painted two colors, part 4
Data from males flies paired with rectangular dummies painted two colors. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 4). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
bicolored mags.zip.004
Differently painted dummies, part 5
Data from males flies paired with rectangular dummies painted two colors. File is actually a single zip split into multiple parts (this is part 5). *.m files, with the following data structs: fly (position and orientation of fly during the trial), robot (position and orientation of robot), chases and chases2 (starts and ends of chases, each uses slightly different criteria to define a chase. data from chases struct used in paper), magloc_on_flyazi (matrix with the location of the magnet on the fly's azimuth at each time step). Data come from 10 minute trials.
bicolored mags.zip.005