Starvation resistance in Drosophila melanogaster : testing for a possible ‘cannibalism’ bias

1. Starvation resistance is often measured in physiological studies with Drosophila and other insects. One common method involves measuring time until death of groups of insects. This method assumes that survivors are not obtaining nutrition from their vial mates that die early. However, because some Drosophila larvae can scavenge carcasses, this group protocol might inadvertently lead to a ‘cannibalism’ bias. 2. We evaluated whether starvation resistance of Drosophila melanogaster was increased if fly carcasses were available from the beginning of the experiment. We used a mixedmodel  to assess the direct and interactive effects of isofemale line, sex and immediate access to carcasses. 3. Males survived starvation longer than females, despite the smaller size of males. Isofemale lines differed significantly in resistance. Immediate access to fly carcasses had no impact on resistance. 4. These results suggest that starving adult flies do not gain measurable benefits from access to carcasses. Consequently, this experiment seemingly validates a widely used method of measuring starvation resistance.