Rates of energy processing by blowflies: the uses for a joule vary with food quality and quantity

Data on the variation of crop volumes with time for blowflies (Phormia regina Meigen) fed various volumes and concentrations of fructose or sucrose (from Gelperin, 1966, and Edgecomb et al. 1987) were used to characterize energy processing rates to test the assumption of food energy addivity of optimal foraging theories. Six regression models (linear, square root, cube root, hyperbolic, inverse cube root and exponential) were compared for data from Edgecomb et al. (1987) with measurements of crop volumes from 10 min to 5 h after blowflies were fed 9.7 or 14.5 microliters of 0.25 moll-1 sucrose. Only the hyperbolic regression could be discriminated as statistically different, and the linear model was selected as most parsimonious for examining rates of energy processing. About the same volume bypassed the crop for flies fed 9.7 or 14.5 microliters. Volume rates of crop emptying (from Gelperin, 1966) did not change at intermediate concentrations but decreased from lowest and to highest concentrations. Energy processing patterns indicate that long-term storage rates increase with meal size and at intermediate concentrations and decrease (3.0 moll-1 fructose) or remain constant (2.0 moll-1 sucrose) at high concentrations, so the uses for a unit of energy are not additive across concentrations and meal sizes. Animals that process energy in this way should attempt to maximize meal size and include high-energy foods in their diet out of proportion to the amount of energy gained for the time spent foraging.