| 1. |
- Almbro, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Weight Loading and Reproductive Status Affect the Flight Performance of Pieris napi Butterflies
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 25:5, s. 441-452
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Weight-induced mobility reductions can have dramatic fitness consequences and winged animals are especially sensitive to the trade-off between mass and locomotion. Data on how natural weight fluctuations influence a flying insect's ability to take off are scarce. We therefore quantified take-off flight ability in Pieris napi butterflies in relation to reproductive status. Take-off flight ability (velocity and take-off angle) under suboptimal temperature conditions was recorded with a 3D-tracking camera system and was predicted to decrease with relatively larger weight loads. Our results show that relatively larger weight loads generally reduce flight speed in male butterflies and lower take-off angles in females. However, despite having a lower wing loading, mated male butterflies flew slower than unmated males. Our study suggests that retention of weight loads associated with reproduction impairs insect flight performance.
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| 2. |
- Bergström, Jonas, et al.
(författare)
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No effect of male courtship intensity on female remating in the butterfly Pieris napi.
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 18:4, s. 479-489
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Pieris napi, female fitness increases with number of matings, but wild females mate at an unexpectedly low rate. From a sexual conflict perspective this could be because males manipulate female remating, or alternatively, because wild females experience costs associated with remating which are not applicable under laboratory conditions. To get an indication which sex controls remating and/or the different sexes’ relative costs and benefits of remating, we here test whether female mating frequency is affected by male courtship intensity. We found no effect on female mating frequency or lifespan. This indicates that (i) females control remating and their optimal mating frequency is lower compared to males, or (ii) males can manipulate female remating. We argue that both these alternatives may apply simultaneously to P. napiand that they are inseparable.
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| 3. |
- Edvardsson, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of copulatory courtship on differential allocation in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 18:3, s. 312-322
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mate attractiveness is known to sometimes influence female reproductive investment (i.e. differential allocation) and the sex ratio of her offspring (i.e. sex allocation). Males of the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum rub the lateral edges of the females’ elytra with their tarsi during copulation. This behavior is important for paternity success when females have mated with two males. We manipulated female perception of the leg rubbing behavior by tarsal ablation and tested whether this behavior is also favored through differential allocation and whether it affects sex allocation. We found some support for an increase in female oviposition rate in response to intensive leg rubbing but failed to find any support for an effect on sex allocation. The overall sex ratio of offspring was slightly male biased but females did not appear to regulate the sex ratio of their offspring.
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| 4. |
- Faraone, N., et al.
(författare)
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Attraction of the larval parasitoid Spintherus dubius (Hymenoptera : Pteromalidae) to feces volatiles from the adult apion weevil host
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Insect Behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 30:1, s. 119-129
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The behavioral response of the larval parasitoid Spintherus dubius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to volatile compounds derived from its Apion weevil hosts was investigated in two-choice bioassays. Odor source candidates were the larval and adult stages of weevils, clover flowers, and feces from adult weevils. Despite S. dubius being a larval parasitoid, the odor of weevil larvae isolated from the clover flowers was not attractive to female parasitoids. Surprisingly, S. dubius females were instead attracted by the odor from the feces of adult weevils. The female parasitoids were similarly attracted to the feces produced by the two main hosts, the red clover weevil (A. trifolii) and the white clover weevil (A. fulvipes). Chemical analysis of the volatile composition of feces produced by the two hosts revealed qualitatively similar odor profiles, correlating with the observed attraction by the parasitoid towards both odor sources. Some of the identified volatile compounds are commonly present in clover plant headspace fractions and may function as a kairomone to facilitate orientation by S. dubius to Apion-infested clover flowers. Larval and adult weevils were not attractive for parasitoid females, whereas, for the white clover weevil-plant association, infested flowers were highly attractive. These data show the use by the clover weevil parasitoid of an alternative source of olfactory information for locating its host.
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| 5. |
- Fucini, Stefania, et al.
(författare)
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Geographic variation in air temperature leads to intraspecific variability in the behavior and productivity of a eusocial insect
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 27:3, s. 403-410
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In primitively eusocial insects, air temperature is the environmental factor that primarily affects colony cycle. Several studies demonstrated interspecific differences in the adaptation of eusocial insects to local air temperature. Nevertheless, studies on intraspecific adaptations are rare. In this study, we investigate the influence of air temperature on local adaptations in behavior and colony productivity of Polistes biglumis foundresses living in warm and cold temperate zones. We hypothesized that foundresses from warm temperate zones would show a higher activity level compared to those from cold temperate zones before brood emergence, based on differences in air temperature between the two zones. After brood emergence, we expected a reduced foundress activity level in the warm climate zone, due to workers’ help. In contrast, foundresses living in the cold-climate zone, which do not produce workers, were expected to remain active throughout the nesting season. We also hypothesized that colony productivity was higher in warm-climate colonies. As expected, warm-climate foundresses reduced their activity level after brood emergence and, with their relatively large number of workers, continued egg production throughout the nesting season. Further studies are necessary to assess if these intraspecific differences are attributable to phenotypic plasticity or genetic divergence.
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| 6. |
- Morgan, T., et al.
(författare)
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Floral sonication is an innate behaviour in bumblebees that can be fine-tuned with experience in manipulating flowers
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 29:2, s. 233-241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bumblebees demonstrate an extensive capacity for learning complex motor skills to maximise exploitation of floral rewards. This ability is well studied in nectar collection but its role in pollen foraging is less well understood. Floral sonication is used by bees to extract pollen from some plant species with anthers which must be vibrated (buzzed) to release pollen. Pollen removal is determined by sonication characteristics including frequency and amplitude, and thus the ability to optimise sonication should allow bees to maximise the pollen collection. We investigated the ability of the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) to modify the frequency and amplitude of their buzzes with increasing experience manipulating flowers of the buzz-pollinated plant Solanum rostratum. We analysed flight and feeding vibrations generated by na < ve workers across feeding bouts. Feeding buzzes were of a higher frequency and a lower amplitude than flight buzzes. Both flight and feeding buzzes had reduced amplitudes with increasing number of foraging trips. However, the frequency of their feeding buzzes was reduced significantly more than their flight buzzes as bumblebee workers gained experience manipulating flowers. These results suggest that bumblebees are able to modify the characteristics of their buzzes with experience manipulating buzz-pollinated flowers. We discuss our findings in the context of bumblebee learning, and the current understanding of the optimal sonication characteristics for releasing pollen in buzz-pollinated species. Our results present a tantalising insight into the potential role of learning in floral sonication, paving the way for future research in this area.
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| 7. |
- Mozuraitis, Raimondas, et al.
(författare)
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Pheromone release behaviour in females of Phyllonorycter junoniella (Z.) (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) under constant and cycling temperatures
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 19:1, s. 129-142
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The calling activity of virgin Phyllonorycter junoniella (Z.) females under a cycling thermal regime differed from that under constant temperature in the following ways: the percentage of females calling at the morning activity peak was increased; the morning period of calling activity was prolonged; the total period of calling activity of an individual female was increased; an extra peak of activity occurred at the end of the photophase, and females changed the calling pattern during the active period. We assume that the occurrence of two calling peaks and the extension of the calling period might be adaptive for a Ph. junoniella species with a sex ratio strongly shifted towards females (8:1 females:males), as it could lead to an increased proportion of females mated.
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| 8. |
- Olsson, Christian, et al.
(författare)
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Flight and oviposition behavior of Ephestia cautella and Plodia interpunctella in response to odors of different chocolate products
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Insect Behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 18:3, s. 363-380
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study is included in a project with the aim to develop attractants from food odors for trapping female moths. Males and mated, but not unmated, females of Ephestia cautella and Plodia interpunctella were attracted by odors of three different chocolate products in flight tunnel experiments. Chocolate containing nut or rum elicited upwind flight and landing responses. Extracts of the chocolate products induced upwind flight in both species and both sexes. Larvae of the tested species survived best in plain chocolate (E. cautella) or nut-containing chocolate (P. interpunctella). The oviposition preference of P. interpunctella females seems to be highly adaptive, since females oviposited in the diet most suitable for larval feeding, whereas E. cautella females showed a less selective oviposition preference, between the diets tested.
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| 9. |
- Schäpers, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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The Role of Olfactory Cues for the Search Behavior of a Specialist and Generalist Butterfly
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 28:1, s. 77-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Searching for resources is often a challenging task, especially for small organisms such as insects. Complex stimuli have to be extracted from the environment and translated into a relevant behavioral output. A first step in this process is to investigate the relative roles of the different senses during search for various resources. While the role of olfaction is well documented in nocturnal moths, the olfactory abilities of the closely related diurnal butterflies are poorly explored. Here we investigated how olfactory information is used in the search for host plants and asked if these abilities varied with levels of stimulus complexity. Thus, we tested two nymphalid butterfly species with divergent host plant range in a two-choice olfactometer testing different combinations of host and non-host plants. The experiments show both the monophagous Aglais urticae and the polyphagous Polygonia c-album could navigate towards an odor source, but this ability varied with context. While mated females exhibited a preference for their host plant, unmated females of both species did not show a preference for host plant cues. Furthermore, both species showed inabilities to make fine-tuned decisions between hosts. We conclude that olfactory cues are important for butterflies to navigate towards targets. We argue that there are limitations on how much information can be extracted from host volatiles. These results are discussed in the light of neural processing limitations and degree of host plant specialization, suggesting the necessity of other sensory modalities to sharpen the decision process and facilitate the final oviposition event.
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| 10. |
- South, Sandra H., et al.
(författare)
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Evidence of monandry in a mosquito (Sabethes cyaneus) with elaborate ornaments in both sexes
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of insect behavior. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0892-7553 .- 1572-8889. ; 21:6, s. 451-459
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the benefits of multiple mating to females many mosquitoes appear to be monandrous. Members of the mosquito tribe Sabethini are unique among the mosquitoes for they possess iridescent scales and elaborate ornaments in both sexes. Additionally, this tribe boasts the only reported cases of courtship display within the mosquitoes. Due to these singular traits and behaviors, we predicted that members of this tribe have a different mating system with relatively high female mating rate. We tested this prediction in the ornamented mosquito Sabethes cyaneus. Contrary to our prediction, however, females were monandrous throughout their lifetime and multiple gonotrophic cycles. We discuss the possible implications of monandry on the evolution of sexually homologous ornaments, with particular consideration of mutual mate choice.
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