Eastern Illinois University The Keep Faculty Research & Creative Activity Biological Sciences January 2006 Spatial learning in dragonflies Perri K. Eason Paul Switzer Eastern Illinois University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/bio_fac Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, Entomology Commons, and the Evolution Commons Recommended Citation Eason, Perri K. and Switzer, Paul, "Spatial learning in dragonflies" (2006). Faculty Research & Creative Activity. 239. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/bio_fac/239 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biological Sciences at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Research & Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2006, 19, 268-281. Copyright 2006 by the International Society for Comparative Psychology Spatial Learning in Dragonflies Perri K. Eason University of Louisville, U.S.A. Paul V. Switzer Eastern Illinois University, U.S.A. Spatial learning is evident in dragonflies on a variety of spatial scales. Mature dragonflies must be able to locate a variety of features in the habitat that are critical to survival and reproduction, includ- ing sites for breeding, foraging, roosting, and thermoregulating. In many species, these sites do not coincide in space. Because individuals may repeatedly use particular sites for different activities, they must learn both the locations of these sites and routes among them. Further evidence of spatial mem- ory in dragonflies is provided by their site specificity on a finer scale. Breeding males, for example, often are faithful not only to a particular area, but to a specific territory site within that area.