The olive fruit fly, known as <i>Bactrocera oleae</i> (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is causing substantial economic losses in olive crops worldwide. Studying the activity patterns of the insect may expand our knowledge to eventually adopt more sustainable and effective pest control approaches. In the present study, we investigated the impact of food and water deprivation on the mobility of olive fruit flies using a modified version of the LAM25 system (locomotor activity monitor)—Trikinetics, an automated locomotor activity electronic device. Both male and female flies at four different age groups, reared on olives in the laboratory, were individually placed in glass tubes. Their locomotor activity was recorded every minute by three monitors within the digital device over a three-day period. Our observations revealed that adults exhibited significantly reduced movement during nighttime compared to daytime. The greatest mobility was observed during the period of 15:00 to 20:59. Additionally, younger flies demonstrated higher levels of mobility compared to older ones. Flies subjected to both food and water deprivation exhibited higher mobility compared to the control group. These insights offer valuable insights for enhancing pest management strategies aimed at controlling olive fruit flies adopting a more sustainable approach.

The availability of multiple sources of food and drink has a profound influence on choice behavior in rodents. It is not known how other taxa might respond to the same kind of variation in availability. We tested European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) with various combinations of unadulterated and repellent-treated (0.025% citronellyl acetate) resources. In Experiment 1, birds drank more plain than repellent-treated water than when given (a) 2 bottles of plain water and 2 of repellent-water, or (b) 3 bottles of plain water and 1 of repellent-water. However, they drank more repellent than water when given 3 bottles of repellent-water and 1 of plain water. Thus, the aversion to the repellent became indifference when repellent-water was abundant. In Experiment 2, birds ate more untreated than treated food when given (a) 1 cup of untreated food and 1 cup of treated food or (b) 2 cups of untreated food and 1 of treated food. They ate equal amounts of untreated and treated food when given 1 cup of untreated food and 2 cups of treated food. These results demonstrate the effect of relative availability on choice, and imply that availability should be considered when using repellents.