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- Moradinour, Zahra, et al.
(author)
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Sensory Organ Investment Varies with Body Size and Sex in the Butterfly Pieris napi
- 2021
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In: Insects. - : MDPI AG. - 2075-4450. ; 12:12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In solitary insect pollinators such as butterflies, sensory systems must be adapted for multiple tasks, including nectar foraging, mate-finding, and locating host-plants. As a result, the energetic investments between sensory organs can vary at the intraspecific level and even among sexes. To date, little is known about how these investments are distributed between sensory systems and how it varies among individuals of different sex. We performed a comprehensive allometric study on males and females of the butterfly Pieris napi where we measured the sizes and other parameters of sensory traits including eyes, antennae, proboscis, and wings. Our findings show that among all the sensory traits measured, only antenna and wing size have an allometric relationship with body size and that the energetic investment in different sensory systems varies between males and females. Moreover, males had absolutely larger antennae and eyes, indicating that they invest more energy in these organs than females of the same body size. Overall, the findings of this study reveal that the size of sensory traits in P. napi are not necessarily related to body size and raises questions about other factors that drive sensory trait investment in this species and in other insect pollinators in general.
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- Perl, Craig D., et al.
(author)
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Heatwave-Like Events During Development Are Sufficient to Impair Bumblebee Worker Responses to Sensory Stimuli
- 2022
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In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-701X. ; 9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Heatwaves are increasingly common globally and are known to have detrimental impacts on animal morphology and behaviour. These impacts can be severe, especially if heatwaves occur during development, even on animals that can regulate the temperature of their developing young. The onset and duration of heatwaves are stochastic and therefore may affect all or only part of development. In the heterothermic bumblebee Bombus terrestris, elevated temperatures over the entirety of development cause morphological changes in adults, despite their capability to regulate brood temperature. However, the effects of heatwaves that occur during a short period of development are unclear. We test the impact of elevated developmental temperature during the latter fraction of development on the behaviour and morphology of adult worker B. terrestris. We show that exposure to elevated temperature over a portion of late development is sufficient to impair the initial behavioural responses of workers to various sensory stimuli. Despite this, exposure to elevated temperatures during a period of development did not have any significant impact on body or organ size. The negative effect of elevated developmental temperatures was independent of the exposure time, which lasted from 11–20 days at the end of the workers’ developmental period. Thus, heat stress in bumblebees can manifest without morphological indicators and impair critical behavioural responses to relevant sensory stimuli, even if only present for a short period of time at the end of development. This has important implications for our understanding of deleterious climactic events and how we measure indicators of stress in pollinators.
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- Stewart, Alan J. A., et al.
(author)
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Artificial lighting impairs mate attraction in a nocturnal capital breeder
- 2020
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In: Journal of Experimental Biology. - : The Company of Biologists. - 0022-0949 .- 1477-9145. ; 223:19
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Artificial lighting at night (ALAN) is increasingly recognised as having negative effects on many organisms, though the exact mechanisms remain unclear. Glow worms are likely susceptible to ALAN because females use bioluminescence to signal to attract males. We quantified the impact of ALAN by comparing the efficacy of traps that mimicked females to attract males in the presence or absence of a white artificial light source (ALS). Illuminated traps attracted fewer males than did traps in the dark. Illuminated traps closer to the ALS attracted fewer males than those further away, whereas traps in the dark attracted similar numbers of males up to 40 m from the ALS. Thus, ALAN impedes females' ability to attract males, the effect increasing with light intensity. Consequently, ALAN potentially affects glow worms' fecundity and long-term population survival. More broadly, this study emphasises the potentially severe deleterious effects of ALAN upon nocturnal insect populations.
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