1. Conditioning Towards Food Preference in Helix aspersa By: Emily Carter, Kate O’Brien & Kimberley Wallace

2. Chemoreception Principle modality for location Amino Acids, Lactic acid, glucose metabolism intermediates. Accurately discriminate food sources: – Also need olfactory cues and feeding related stimuli

3. Food Preferences May have innate preferences: – Quantity and quality – Physiological condition Determined by two characteristics: – Attractiveness and Edibility Important for protection of crops and important plant populations.

4. Food Attraction Conditioning Influenced by: learning experiences and changes to neural processes. Change in feeding experience. Teyke 1995: After a single feeding episode- preference No feeding period- no preference Just exposed to scent- no preference

5. Hypotheses Helix aspersa will show a preference for the conditioned food item. Apple condition = preference for apples Lettuce condition = preference for lettuce Control condition = no preference

6. Materials and Methods 6 Snails (Helix aspersa) in 3 separate tanks - 6 cups of soil in each tank and corresponding food type

7. Experiment Snail placed into middle Plexiglas enclosure with apples and lettuce at opposite ends 20 minute testing period Distance, speed and preference of the snail was recorded ApplesLettuce

8. 2 trails conducted  each trial lasted 1 week Food was removed 1 day before trials to ensure snails were hungry enough to eat when placed in testing chamber

9. Results Results did not agree with original hypotheses - Only Lettuce group had results that agreed with original hypothesis No relationship among results that suggested that snails can be conditioned towards a particular food type.

14. Discussion Hypothesis: – Snails can be conditioned to a specific food item, and retain memory of that food item for extended period of time. – Proven by Teykes (1995)

15. Discussion Predictions: – Conditioned to lettuce = prefer lettuce – Conditioned to apple = prefer apple – Conditioned to both = no preference

16. Discussion Based on the results: – Reject hypothesis No signs for conditioning or food preference In the wild: – Leaves, stems, soft bark, fruit, vegetables, fungi and algae In lab: – previously exposed to lettuce

17. Improvements/ Future Directions Timing (6 days feeding, 1 day starved) – Didn’t move, cleaning shell, stationed on or around the black plug Positioning of food in chambers – Make sure food accessible (top, sides & bottom) Placement of snails – Not facing food (eliminate biases)

18. Conclusion Overall: The snails did not demonstrate food attraction conditioning. Our findings differed from Teykes(1995) experiment Further research is needed

19. Questions?