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Doherty JF, Ames T, Brewster LI, Chiang J, Cyr E, Kelsey CR, Lee JP, Liu B, Lo IHY, Nirwal GK, Mohammed YG, Phelan O, Seyfourian P, Shannon DM, Tochor NK, Matthews BJ. An update and review of arthropod vector sensory systems: Potential targets for behavioural manipulation by parasites and other disease agents. ADVANCES IN PARASITOLOGY 2024; 124:57-89. [PMID: 38754927 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apar.2024.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
For over a century, vector ecology has been a mainstay of vector-borne disease control. Much of this research has focused on the sensory ecology of blood-feeding arthropods (black flies, mosquitoes, ticks, etc.) with terrestrial vertebrate hosts. Of particular interest are the cues and sensory systems that drive host seeking and host feeding behaviours as they are critical for a vector to locate and feed from a host. An important yet overlooked component of arthropod vector ecology are the phenotypic changes observed in infected vectors that increase disease transmission. While our fundamental understanding of sensory mechanisms in disease vectors has drastically increased due to recent advances in genome engineering, for example, the advent of CRISPR-Cas9, and high-throughput "big data" approaches (genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, etc.), we still do not know if and how parasites manipulate vector behaviour. Here, we review the latest research on arthropod vector sensory systems and propose key mechanisms that disease agents may alter to increase transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tahnee Ames
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Jonathan Chiang
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Elsa Cyr
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Cameron R Kelsey
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Jeehan Phillip Lee
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Bingzong Liu
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Ivan Hok Yin Lo
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Gurleen K Nirwal
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - Orna Phelan
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Parsa Seyfourian
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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2
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Jiang C, Xu H, Yang L, Liu J, Li Y, Takei K, Xu W. Neuromorphic antennal sensory system. Nat Commun 2024; 15:2109. [PMID: 38453967 PMCID: PMC10920631 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46393-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Insect antennae facilitate the nuanced detection of vibrations and deflections, and the non-contact perception of magnetic or chemical stimuli, capabilities not found in mammalian skin. Here, we report a neuromorphic antennal sensory system that emulates the structural, functional, and neuronal characteristics of ant antennae. Our system comprises electronic antennae sensor with three-dimensional flexible structures that detects tactile and magnetic stimuli. The integration of artificial synaptic devices adsorbed with solution-processable MoS2 nanoflakes enables synaptic processing of sensory information. By emulating the architecture of receptor-neuron pathway, our system realizes hardware-level, spatiotemporal perception of tactile contact, surface pattern, and magnetic field (detection limits: 1.3 mN, 50 μm, 9.4 mT). Vibrotactile-perception tasks involving profile and texture classifications were accomplished with high accuracy (> 90%), surpassing human performance in "blind" tactile explorations. Magneto-perception tasks including magnetic navigation and touchless interaction were successfully completed. Our work represents a milestone for neuromorphic sensory systems and biomimetic perceptual intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chengpeng Jiang
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Honghuan Xu
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lu Yang
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jiaqi Liu
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yue Li
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Kuniharu Takei
- Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
| | - Wentao Xu
- Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology of Tianjin, College of Electronic Information and Optical Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Thin Film Photoelectronic Technology of Ministry of Education, Smart Sensing Interdisciplinary Science Center, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
- Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, Shenzhen, China.
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3
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Torto B, Tchouassi DP. Chemical Ecology and Management of Dengue Vectors. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2024; 69:159-182. [PMID: 37625116 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-020123-015755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/27/2023]
Abstract
Dengue, caused by the dengue virus, is the most widespread arboviral infectious disease of public health significance globally. This review explores the communicative function of olfactory cues that mediate host-seeking, egg-laying, plant-feeding, and mating behaviors in Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, two mosquito vectors that drive dengue virus transmission. Aedes aegypti has adapted to live in close association with humans, preferentially feeding on them and laying eggs in human-fabricated water containers and natural habitats. In contrast, Ae. albopictus is considered opportunistic in its feeding habits and tends to inhabit more vegetative areas. Additionally, the ability of both mosquito species to locate suitable host plants for sugars and find mates for reproduction contributes to their survival. Advances in chemical ecology, functional genomics, and behavioral analyses have improved our understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms and reveal novel and specific olfactory semiochemicals that these species use to locate and discriminate among resources in their environment. Physiological status; learning; and host- and habitat-associated factors, including microbial infection and abundance, shape olfactory responses of these vectors. Some of these semiochemicals can be integrated into the toolbox for dengue surveillance and control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baldwyn Torto
- International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi, Kenya; ,
| | - David P Tchouassi
- International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi, Kenya; ,
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Pantoja-Sánchez H, Leavell BC, Rendon B, de-Silva WAPP, Singh R, Zhou J, Menda G, Hoy RR, Miles RN, Sanscrainte ND, Bernal XE. Tiny spies: mosquito antennae are sensitive sensors for eavesdropping on frog calls. J Exp Biol 2023; 226:jeb245359. [PMID: 37942703 PMCID: PMC10753488 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023]
Abstract
Most mosquito and midge species use hearing during acoustic mating behaviors. For frog-biting species, however, hearing plays an important role beyond mating as females rely on anuran calls to obtain blood meals. Despite the extensive work examining hearing in mosquito species that use sound in mating contexts, our understanding of how mosquitoes hear frog calls is limited. Here, we directly investigated the mechanisms underlying detection of frog calls by a mosquito species specialized on eavesdropping on anuran mating signals: Uranotaenia lowii. Behavioral, biomechanical and neurophysiological analyses revealed that the antenna of this frog-biting species can detect frog calls by relying on neural and mechanical responses comparable to those of non-frog-biting species. Our findings show that in Ur. lowii, contrary to most species, males do not use sound for mating, but females use hearing to locate their anuran host. We also show that the response of the antennae of this frog-biting species resembles that of the antenna of species that use hearing for mating. Finally, we discuss our data considering how mosquitoes may have evolved the ability to tap into the communication system of frogs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian C. Leavell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Bianca Rendon
- Department of Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 41163, USA
| | | | - Richa Singh
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Jian Zhou
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
| | - Gil Menda
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Ronald R. Hoy
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Ronald N. Miles
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
| | - Neil D. Sanscrainte
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, Centre for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL 32608, USA
| | - Ximena E. Bernal
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panamá
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Paris V, Hardy C, Hoffmann AA, Ross PA. How often are male mosquitoes attracted to humans? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230921. [PMID: 37885984 PMCID: PMC10598425 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Many mosquito species live close to humans where females feed on human blood. While male mosquitoes do not feed on blood, it has long been recognized that males of some species can be attracted to human hosts. To investigate the frequency of male mosquito attraction to humans, we conducted a literature review and human-baited field trials, as well as laboratory experiments involving males and females of three common Aedes species. Our literature review indicated that male attraction to humans is limited to a small number of species, including Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus. In our human-baited field collections, only 4 out of 13 species captured included males. In laboratory experiments, we found that male Ae. notoscriptus and Ae. vigilax showed no attraction to humans, while male Ae. aegypti exhibited persistent attraction for up to 30 min. Both male and female Ae. aegypti displayed similar preferences for different human subjects, suggesting that male Ae. aegypti respond to similar cues as females. Additionally, we found that mosquito repellents applied to human skin effectively repelled male mosquitoes. These findings shed light on mosquito behaviour and have implications for mosquito control programmes, particularly those involving the release or monitoring of the male mosquito population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Paris
- School of BioSciences, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
| | - Christopher Hardy
- CSIRO Environment, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Ary A. Hoffmann
- School of BioSciences, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220, Denmark
| | - Perran A. Ross
- School of BioSciences, Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg 9220, Denmark
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Lapshin DN, Vorontsov DD. Mapping the Auditory Space of Culex pipiens Female Mosquitoes in 3D. INSECTS 2023; 14:743. [PMID: 37754711 PMCID: PMC10532353 DOI: 10.3390/insects14090743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023]
Abstract
The task of directional hearing faces most animals that possess ears. They approach this task in different ways, but a common trait is the use of binaural cues to find the direction to the source of sound. In insects, the task is further complicated by their small size and, hence, minute temporal and level differences between two ears. A single symmetric flagellar particle velocity receiver, such as the antenna of a mosquito, should not be able to discriminate between the two opposite directions along the vector of the sound wave. Paired antennae of mosquitoes presume the usage of binaural hearing, but its mechanisms are expected to be significantly different from the ones typical for the pressure receivers. However, the directionality of flagellar auditory organs has received little attention. Here, we measured the in-flight orientation of antennae in female Culex pipiens pipiens mosquitoes and obtained a detailed physiological mapping of the Johnston's organ directionality at the level of individual sensory units. By combining these data, we created a three-dimensional model of the mosquito's auditory space. The orientation of the antennae was found to be coordinated with the neuronal asymmetry of the Johnston's organs to maintain a uniformly shaped auditory space, symmetric relative to a flying mosquito. The overlap of the directional characteristics of the left and right sensory units was found to be optimal for binaural hearing focused primarily in front of, above and below a flying mosquito.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry N. Lapshin
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshoy Karetny per. 19, 127994 Moscow, Russia;
| | - Dmitry D. Vorontsov
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova 26, 119334 Moscow, Russia
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Díaz-García L, Latham B, Reid A, Windmill J. Review of the applications of principles of insect hearing to microscale acoustic engineering challenges. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2023; 18:051002. [PMID: 37499689 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/aceb29] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
When looking for novel, simple, and energy-efficient solutions to engineering problems, nature has proved to be an incredibly valuable source of inspiration. The development of acoustic sensors has been a prolific field for bioinspired solutions. With a diverse array of evolutionary approaches to the problem of hearing at small scales (some widely different to the traditional concept of 'ear'), insects in particular have served as a starting point for several designs. From locusts to moths, through crickets and mosquitoes among many others, the mechanisms found in nature to deal with small-scale acoustic detection and the engineering solutions they have inspired are reviewed. The present article is comprised of three main sections corresponding to the principal problems faced by insects, namely frequency discrimination, which is addressed by tonotopy, whether performed by a specific organ or directly on the tympana; directionality, with solutions including diverse adaptations to tympanal structure; and detection of weak signals, through what is known as active hearing. The three aforementioned problems concern tiny animals as much as human-manufactured microphones and have therefore been widely investigated. Even though bioinspired systems may not always provide perfect performance, they are sure to give us solutions with clever use of resources and minimal post-processing, being serious contenders for the best alternative depending on the requisites of the problem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Díaz-García
- Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Brendan Latham
- Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Reid
- Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - James Windmill
- Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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Dahake A, Raguso RA, Goyret J. Context and the functional use of information in insect sensory ecology. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 58:101058. [PMID: 37217002 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Context-specific behaviors emerge from the interaction between an animal's internal state and its external environment. Although the importance of context is acknowledged in the field of insect sensory ecology, there is a lack of synthesis on this topic stemming from challenges in conceptualizing 'context'. We address this challenge by gleaning over the recent findings on the sensory ecology of mosquitoes and other insect pollinators. We discuss internal states and their temporal dynamics, from those lasting minutes to hours (host-seeking) to those lasting days to weeks (diapause, migration). Of the many patterns reviewed, at least three were common to all taxa studied. First, different sensory cues gain prominence depending on the insect's internal state. Second, similar sensory circuits between related species can result in different behavioral outcomes. And third, ambient conditions can dramatically alter internal states and behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ajinkya Dahake
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Robert A Raguso
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Joaquin Goyret
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tennessee Martin, Martin, TN, USA.
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Kittichai V, Kaewthamasorn M, Samung Y, Jomtarak R, Naing KM, Tongloy T, Chuwongin S, Boonsang S. Automatic identification of medically important mosquitoes using embedded learning approach-based image-retrieval system. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10609. [PMID: 37391476 PMCID: PMC10313673 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37574-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and malaria are the top 10 leading causes of death in low-income countries. Control measure for the mosquito population plays an essential role in the fight against the disease. Currently, several intervention strategies; chemical-, biological-, mechanical- and environmental methods remain under development and need further improvement in their effectiveness. Although, a conventional entomological surveillance, required a microscope and taxonomic key for identification by professionals, is a key strategy to evaluate the population growth of these mosquitoes, these techniques are tedious, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and reliant on skillful and well-trained personnel. Here, we proposed an automatic screening, namely the deep metric learning approach and its inference under the image-retrieval process with Euclidean distance-based similarity. We aimed to develop the optimized model to find suitable miners and suggested the robustness of the proposed model by evaluating it with unseen data under a 20-returned image system. During the model development, well-trained ResNet34 are outstanding and no performance difference when comparing five data miners that showed up to 98% in its precision even after testing the model with both image sources: stereomicroscope and mobile phone cameras. The robustness of the proposed-trained model was tested with secondary unseen data which showed different environmental factors such as lighting, image scales, background colors and zoom levels. Nevertheless, our proposed neural network still has great performance with greater than 95% for sensitivity and precision, respectively. Also, the area under the ROC curve given the learning system seems to be practical and empirical with its value greater than 0.960. The results of the study may be used by public health authorities to locate mosquito vectors nearby. If used in the field, our research tool in particular is believed to accurately represent a real-world scenario.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veerayuth Kittichai
- Faculty of Medicine, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Morakot Kaewthamasorn
- Veterinary Parasitology Research Unit, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Yudthana Samung
- Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Rangsan Jomtarak
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Kaung Myat Naing
- College of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Teerawat Tongloy
- College of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Santhad Chuwongin
- College of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Siridech Boonsang
- Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand.
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Mikel-Stites MR, Salcedo MK, Socha JJ, Marek PE, Staples AE. Reconsidering tympanal-acoustic interactions leads to an improved model of auditory acuity in a parasitoid fly. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2023; 18:035007. [PMID: 36854192 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/acbffa] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Although most binaural organisms locate sound sources using neurological structures to amplify the sounds they hear, some animals use mechanically coupled hearing organs instead. One of these animals, the parasitoid flyOrmia ochracea(O. ochracea), has astoundingly accurate sound localization abilities. It can locate objects in the azimuthal plane with a precision of 2°, equal to that of humans, despite an intertympanal distance of only 0.5 mm, which is less than1/100th of the wavelength of the sound emitted by the crickets that it parasitizes.O. ochraceaaccomplishes this feat via mechanically coupled tympana that interact with incoming acoustic pressure waves to amplify differences in the signals received at the two ears. In 1995, Mileset aldeveloped a model of hearing mechanics inO. ochraceathat represents the tympana as flat, front-facing prosternal membranes, though they lie on a convex surface at an angle from the flies' frontal and transverse planes. The model works well for incoming sound angles less than±30∘but suffers from reduced accuracy (up to 60% error) at higher angles compared to response data acquired fromO. ochraceaspecimens. Despite this limitation, it has been the basis for bio-inspired microphone designs for decades. Here, we present critical improvements to this classic hearing model based on information from three-dimensional reconstructions ofO. ochracea's tympanal organ. We identified the orientation of the tympana with respect to a frontal plane and the azimuthal angle segment between the tympana as morphological features essential to the flies' auditory acuity, and hypothesized a differentiated mechanical response to incoming sound on the ipsi- and contralateral sides that depend on these features. We incorporated spatially-varying model coefficients representing this asymmetric response, making a new quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) model. The q2D model has high accuracy (average errors of under 10%) for all incoming sound angles. This improved biomechanical model may inform the design of new microscale directional microphones and other small-scale acoustic sensor systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max R Mikel-Stites
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
- Engineering Mechanics program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
- Department of Mathematics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - Mary K Salcedo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - John J Socha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - Paul E Marek
- Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - Anne E Staples
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
- Engineering Mechanics program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
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League GP, Alfonso-Parra C, Pantoja-Sánchez H, Harrington LC. Acoustic-Related Mating Behavior in Tethered and Free-Flying Mosquitoes. Cold Spring Harb Protoc 2022; 2022:Pdb.top107667. [PMID: 35960619 DOI: 10.1101/pdb.top107667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Acoustics play an essential role in mosquito communication, particularly during courtship and mating. Mosquito mating occurs in flight and is coordinated by the perception of wingbeat tones. Flight tone frequencies have been shown to mediate sex recognition in Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, and Toxorhynchites genera and are thus a conserved feature of mating across the mosquito family (Culicidae). Upon recognizing a flying female, males respond phonotactically by lunging toward the female and initiating a precopulatory courtship flight interaction. During this interaction, males and females often harmonize their flight tones in a behavior known as harmonic convergence, and male acoustics display rapid frequency modulation. These acoustic phenomena have been characterized both in tethered and free-flying mosquitoes using similar audio recording and analysis methods. Further, the manipulation of mosquito acoustic-related mating behavior shows great promise as a tool for reproductive control strategies. In this brief methodological introduction, we provide an overview of the biological and technical concepts necessary for understanding the recording and analysis of mosquito mating acoustics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Garrett P League
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
| | - Catalina Alfonso-Parra
- Instituto Colombiano de Medicina Tropical, Universidad CES, Sabaneta, Antioquia, Colombia, 055413
- Max Planck Tandem Group in Mosquito Reproductive Biology
| | - Hoover Pantoja-Sánchez
- Departamento de Ingeniería Electrónica, SISTEMIC
- Programa de Estudio y Control de Enfermedades Tropicales, PECET, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, 050010
| | - Laura C Harrington
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
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Nakata T, Simões P, Walker SM, Russell IJ, Bomphrey RJ. Auditory sensory range of male mosquitoes for the detection of female flight sound. J R Soc Interface 2022; 19:20220285. [PMID: 36000227 PMCID: PMC9399701 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Male mosquitoes detect and localize conspecific females by their flight-tones using the Johnston's organ (JO), which detects antennal deflections under the influence of local particle motion. Acoustic behaviours of mosquitoes and their JO physiology have been investigated extensively within the frequency domain, yet the auditory sensory range and the behaviour of males at the initiation of phonotactic flights are not well known. In this study, we predict a maximum spatial sensory envelope for flying Culex quinquefasciatus by integrating the physiological tuning response of the male JO with female aeroacoustic signatures derived from numerical simulations. Our sensory envelope predictions were tested with a behavioural assay of free-flying males responding to a female-like artificial pure tone. The minimum detectable particle velocity observed during flight tests was in good agreement with our theoretical prediction formed by the peak JO sensitivity measured in previous studies. The iso-surface describing the minimal detectable particle velocity represents the quantitative auditory sensory range of males and is directional with respect to the female body orientation. Our results illuminate the intricacy of the mating behaviour and point to the importance of observing the body orientation of flying mosquitoes to understand fully the sensory ecology of conspecific communication.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Simon M Walker
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Ian J Russell
- Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
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13
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Kundu P, Choi N, Rundus AS, Santer RD, Hebets EA. Uncovering ‘Hidden’ Signals: Previously Presumed Visual Signals Likely Generate Air Particle Movement. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.939133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolf spiders within the genus Schizocosa have become a model system for exploring the form and function of multimodal communication. In terms of male signaling, much past research has focused on the role and importance of dynamic and static visual and substrate-borne vibratory communication. Studies on S. retrorsa, however, have found that female-male pairs were able to successfully mate in the absence of both visual and vibratory stimuli, suggesting a reduced or non-existent role of these signaling modalities in this species. Given these prior findings, it has been suggested that S. retrorsa males may utilize an additional signaling modality during courtship—air particle movement, often referred to as near-field sound—which they likely produce with rapid leg waving and receive using thin filiform sensory hairs called trichobothria. In this study, we tested the role of air-particle movement in mating success by conducting two independent sets of mating trials with randomly paired S. retrorsa females and males in the dark and on granite (i.e., without visual or vibratory signals) in two different signaling environments—(i) without (“No Noise”) and (ii) with (“Noise”) introduced air-particle movement intended to disrupt signaling in that modality. We also ran foraging trials in No Noise/Noise environments to explore the impact of our treatments on overall behavior. Across both mating experiments, our treatments significantly impacted mating success, with more mating in the No Noise signaling environments compared to the Noise environments. The rate of leg waving—a previously assumed visual dynamic movement that has also been shown to be able to produce air particle displacement—was higher in the No Noise than Noise environments. Across both treatments, males with higher rates of leg waving had higher mating success. In contrast to mating trials results, foraging success was not influenced by Noise. Our results indicate that artificially induced air particle movement disrupts successful mating and alters male courtship signaling but does not interfere with a female’s ability to receive and assess the rate of male leg waving.
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14
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González-Pérez MI, Faulhaber B, Williams M, Brosa J, Aranda C, Pujol N, Verdún M, Villalonga P, Encarnação J, Busquets N, Talavera S. A novel optical sensor system for the automatic classification of mosquitoes by genus and sex with high levels of accuracy. Parasit Vectors 2022; 15:190. [PMID: 35668486 PMCID: PMC9169302 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-022-05324-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Every year, more than 700,000 people die from vector-borne diseases, mainly transmitted by mosquitoes. Vector surveillance plays a major role in the control of these diseases and requires accurate and rapid taxonomical identification. New approaches to mosquito surveillance include the use of acoustic and optical sensors in combination with machine learning techniques to provide an automatic classification of mosquitoes based on their flight characteristics, including wingbeat frequency. The development and application of these methods could enable the remote monitoring of mosquito populations in the field, which could lead to significant improvements in vector surveillance. Methods A novel optical sensor prototype coupled to a commercial mosquito trap was tested in laboratory conditions for the automatic classification of mosquitoes by genus and sex. Recordings of > 4300 laboratory-reared mosquitoes of Aedes and Culex genera were made using the sensor. The chosen genera include mosquito species that have a major impact on public health in many parts of the world. Five features were extracted from each recording to form balanced datasets and used for the training and evaluation of five different machine learning algorithms to achieve the best model for mosquito classification. Results The best accuracy results achieved using machine learning were: 94.2% for genus classification, 99.4% for sex classification of Aedes, and 100% for sex classification of Culex. The best algorithms and features were deep neural network with spectrogram for genus classification and gradient boosting with Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients among others for sex classification of either genus. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first time that a sensor coupled to a standard mosquito suction trap has provided automatic classification of mosquito genus and sex with high accuracy using a large number of unique samples with class balance. This system represents an improvement of the state of the art in mosquito surveillance and encourages future use of the sensor for remote, real-time characterization of mosquito populations. Graphical abstract ![]()
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13071-022-05324-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- María I González-Pérez
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | | | | | - Josep Brosa
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Carles Aranda
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.,Servei de Control de Mosquits del Consell Comarcal del Baix Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nuria Pujol
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Marta Verdún
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | | | | | - Núria Busquets
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Sandra Talavera
- IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
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15
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Zhou J, Lai J, Menda G, Stafstrom JA, Miles CI, Hoy RR, Miles RN. Outsourced hearing in an orb-weaving spider that uses its web as an auditory sensor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2122789119. [PMID: 35349337 PMCID: PMC9169088 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2122789119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
SignificanceThe sense of hearing in all known animals relies on possessing auditory organs that are made up of cellular tissues and constrained by body sizes. We show that hearing in the orb-weaving spider is functionally outsourced to its extended phenotype, the proteinaceous self-manufactured web, and hence processes behavioral controllability. This finding opens new perspectives on animal extended cognition and hearing-the outsourcing and supersizing of auditory function in spiders. This study calls for reinvestigation of the remarkable evolutionary ecology and sensory ecology in spiders-one of the oldest land animals. The sensory modality of outsourced hearing provides a unique model for studying extended and regenerative sensing and presents new design features for inspiring novel acoustic flow detectors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Zhou
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902
- Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439
| | - Junpeng Lai
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902
| | - Gil Menda
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
| | - Jay A. Stafstrom
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
| | - Carol I. Miles
- Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902
| | - Ronald R. Hoy
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
| | - Ronald N. Miles
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902
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16
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Ziemer T, Wetjen F, Herbst A. The Antenna Base Plays a Crucial Role in Mosquito Courtship Behavior. FRONTIERS IN TROPICAL DISEASES 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fitd.2022.803611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mosquitoes are vectors of pathogens that cause diseases like malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika. For mosquito control it is crucial to understand their hearing system, as mosquitoes’ courting behavior is mostly auditory. Many nonlinear characteristics of the mosquito hearing organ have been observed through behavioral studies and neural measurements. These enable mosquitoes to detect and synchronize to other mosquitoes. Many hypotheses concerning the role of the flagellum and the fibrillae of the antenna in mosquito hearing have been made, and neural processes have been considered as the origin of the nonlinearities. In this study we introduce a geometric model based on the morphology of the mosquito antenna base. The model produces many of the observed nonlinear characteristics, providing evidence that the base of the antenna plays a crucial role in mosquito hearing. Even without neural processing, the antenna response to sound produces behaviorally relevant cues that can inform about the presence, location, and sex of other mosquitoes.
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17
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Feugère L, Roux O, Gibson G. Behavioural analysis of swarming mosquitoes reveals higher hearing sensitivity than previously measured with electrophysiology methods. J Exp Biol 2022; 225:274290. [PMID: 35132997 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.243535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Mosquitoes of many species mate in station-keeping swarms. Mating chases ensue as soon as a male detects the flight tones of a female with his auditory organs. Previous studies of hearing thresholds have mainly used electrophysiological methods that prevent the mosquito from flying naturally. The main aim of this study was to quantify behaviourally the sound-level threshold at which males can hear females. Free-flying male Anopheles coluzzii were released in a large arena (∼2 m high x 2 m x 1 m) with a conspicuous object on the ground that stimulates swarming behaviour. Males were exposed to a range of natural and synthetic played-back sounds of female flight. We monitored the responses of males and their distance to the speaker by recording changes in their wingbeat frequency and angular speed. We show that the mean male behavioural threshold of particle-velocity hearing lies between 13-20 dB SVL (95%-CI). A conservative estimate of 20 dB SVL (i.e.,<0.5 µm/s particle velocity) is already 12 to 26 dB lower than most of the published electrophysiological measurements from the Johnston's organ. In addition, we suggest that 1) the first harmonic of female flight-sound is sufficient for males to detect her presence, 2) males respond with a greater amplitude to single-female sounds than to the sound of a group of females and 3) the response of males to the playback of the flight sound of a live female is the same as that of a recorded sound of constant frequency and amplitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lionel Feugère
- MIVEGEC, Univ. Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France.,Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Olivier Roux
- MIVEGEC, Univ. Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France.,Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso
| | - Gabriella Gibson
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
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18
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Baeshen R. Swarming Behavior in Anopheles gambiae (sensu lato): Current Knowledge and Future Outlook. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2022; 59:56-66. [PMID: 34617121 PMCID: PMC8755986 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjab157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Effective management of insect disease vectors requires a detailed understanding of their ecology and behavior. In Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) (Diptera: Culicidae) mating occurs during swarming, but knowledge of their mating behavior under natural conditions is limited. Mosquitoes mate in flight over specific landmarks, known as swarm markers, at particular locations. Swarms consist of males; the females usually approach the swarm and depart following copulation. The number of mating pairs per swarm is closely associated with swarm size. The shape and height of swarm markers vary and may depend on the environmental conditions at the swarm's location. Male-male interactions in mosquito swarms with similar levels of attractive flight activity can offer a mating advantage to some individuals. Flight tone is used by mosquitoes to recognize the other sex and choose a desirable mate. Clarifying these and other aspects of mosquito reproductive behavior can facilitate the development of population control measures that target swarming sites. This review describes what is currently known about swarming behavior in Anopheles gambiae s.l., including swarm characteristics; mating within and outside of swarms, insemination in females, and factors affecting and stimulating swarming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rowida Baeshen
- Faculty of Sciences, Biology Department, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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19
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Amos BA, Hoffmann AA, Staunton KM, Lau MJ, Burkot TR, Ross PA. Long-Range But Not Short-Range Attraction of Male Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquitoes to Humans. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2022; 59:83-88. [PMID: 34559241 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjab164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Female Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) mosquitoes integrate multiple sensory cues to locate human hosts for blood meals. Although male Ae. aegypti swarm around and land on humans in nature to mate, direct evidence of attraction to humans is limited. Male mosquito attraction to human host cues is often undetectable in confined laboratory assays, leading to a misconception that male mosquitoes are not attracted to humans. We used semifield experiments to demonstrate robust attraction of male Ae. aegypti to humans. Human-baited traps captured up to 25% of released males within 15 min, whereas control traps without humans as bait failed to capture males. Rapid attraction to humans was further demonstrated through videography. Males swarmed around and landed on human subjects, with no activity recorded in paired unbaited controls. Finally, we confirm the lack of discernible male attraction to humans in small laboratory cages. Our experiments demonstrate that both male and female Ae. aegypti show attraction to humans, but with clear sex-specific behavioral differences at short-range. Male mosquito attraction to humans is likely to be important for mating success in wild populations and its basis should be further explored. Our results highlight the importance of arena size and assay design for mosquito behavioral research. A better understanding of host cues that attract males could help us to improve mosquito surveillance and control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brogan A Amos
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ary A Hoffmann
- Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group, Bio21 Institute and the School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Kyran M Staunton
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Meng-Jia Lau
- Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group, Bio21 Institute and the School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Thomas R Burkot
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
| | - Perran A Ross
- Pest and Environmental Adaptation Research Group, Bio21 Institute and the School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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20
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Harmonic convergence coordinates swarm mating by enhancing mate detection in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Sci Rep 2021; 11:24102. [PMID: 34916521 PMCID: PMC8677761 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03236-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is a major African malaria vector, transmitting parasites responsible for significant mortality and disease burden. Although flight acoustics are essential to mosquito mating and present promising alternatives to insecticide-based vector control strategies, there is limited data on mosquito flight tones during swarming. Here, for the first time, we present detailed analyses of free-flying male and female An. gambiae flight tones and their harmonization (harmonic convergence) over a complete swarm sequence. Audio analysis of single-sex swarms showed synchronized elevation of male and female flight tones during swarming. Analysis of mixed-sex swarms revealed additional 50 Hz increases in male and female flight tones due to mating activity. Furthermore, harmonic differences between male and female swarm tones in mixed-sex swarms and in single-sex male swarms with artificial female swarm audio playback indicate that frequency differences of approximately 50 Hz or less at the male second and female third harmonics (M2:F3) are maintained both before and during mating interactions. This harmonization likely coordinates male scramble competition by maintaining ideal acoustic recognition within mating pairs while acoustically masking phonotactic responses of nearby swarming males to mating females. These findings advance our knowledge of mosquito swarm acoustics and provide vital information for reproductive control strategies.
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21
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League GP, Harrington LC, Pitcher SA, Geyer JK, Baxter LL, Montijo J, Rowland JG, Johnson LM, Murdock CC, Cator LJ. Sexual selection theory meets disease vector control: Testing harmonic convergence as a "good genes" signal in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021; 15:e0009540. [PMID: 34214096 PMCID: PMC8282061 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a medically important, globally distributed vector of the viruses that cause dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Although reproduction and mate choice are key components of vector population dynamics and control, our understanding of the mechanisms of sexual selection in mosquitoes remains poor. In “good genes” models of sexual selection, females use male cues as an indicator of both mate and offspring genetic quality. Recent studies in Ae. aegypti provide evidence that male wingbeats may signal aspects of offspring quality and performance during mate selection in a process known as harmonic convergence. However, the extent to which harmonic convergence may signal overall inherent quality of mates and their offspring remains unknown. Methodology/Principal findings To examine this, we measured the relationship between acoustic signaling and a broad panel of parent and offspring fitness traits in two generations of field-derived Ae. aegypti originating from dengue-endemic field sites in Thailand. Our data show that in this population of mosquitoes, harmonic convergence does not signal male fertility, female fecundity, or male flight performance traits, which despite displaying robust variability in both parents and their offspring were only weakly heritable. Conclusions/Significance Together, our findings suggest that vector reproductive control programs should treat harmonic convergence as an indicator of some, but not all aspects of inherent quality, and that sexual selection likely affects Ae. aegypti in a trait-, population-, and environment-dependent manner. Mosquitoes transmit numerous pathogens that disproportionately impact developing countries. The mosquito Aedes aegypti, studied here, transmits viruses that cause neglected tropical diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Disease prevention programs rely heavily upon mosquito vector control. To successfully interrupt disease transmission, several control methods depend upon the ability of laboratory-modified male mosquitoes to successfully mate with wild females to suppress or replace natural populations. However, our understanding of what determines mating success in mosquitoes is far from complete. Our study addresses the question of whether female Ae. aegypti mosquitoes use male acoustic signals to select higher quality mates and improve their offspring’s fitness. We find that acoustic signals do not serve as universal indicators of fitness. Further, the fitness metrics we measured were only weakly heritable, suggesting that females that mate with high quality males do not necessarily produce fitter offspring. Our study provides a nuanced understanding of mate choice, mating acoustic signals, and parent and offspring reproductive fitness in a key disease-transmitting mosquito species. These discoveries improve our grasp of sexual selection in mosquitoes and can be leveraged by the vector control community to improve vitally important disease prevention programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Garrett P. League
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Laura C. Harrington
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Sylvie A. Pitcher
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Julie K. Geyer
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Lindsay L. Baxter
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Julian Montijo
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - John G. Rowland
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, United Kingdom
| | - Lynn M. Johnson
- Cornell Statistical Consulting Unit, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Courtney C. Murdock
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
- Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Lauren J. Cator
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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22
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Lapshin DN, Vorontsov DD. Frequency tuning of swarming male mosquitoes (Aedes communis, Culicidae) and its neural mechanisms. JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2021; 132:104233. [PMID: 33831433 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2021.104233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2020] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The primary function of hearing in mosquitoes is believed to be intraspecific communication. This view dictated the principle of many behavioral studies, namely, the attraction of male mosquitoes to the sounds that mimicked a female tone. However, after the avoidance response to certain frequencies of sound was demonstrated, it became clear that attraction tests cannot fully account for all the capabilities of the mosquito auditory system. In addition, the tuning curves obtained by electrophysiological measurements differ from the behavioral ones. We designed a simple but robust field test based on responses of swarming mosquitoes to sound stimulation, but not limited to the attraction response. Here we report the auditory thresholds over a wide range of sound frequencies measured in the field from swarms of Aedes communis mosquitoes. In parallel, the auditory sensitivity of male mosquitoes taken from the same swarms was measured electrophysiologically. Surprisingly, we found high acoustic sensitivity; 26 dBSPL on average, in the frequency range 180-220 Hz (ambient temperature 12 °C). In addition, responses were found in the high-frequency range, 500-700 Hz (the so-called 'mirror channel'). Two types of auditory units were recorded: more sensitive broadband neurons and less sensitive units with distinct narrow (quality factor Q6 = 7.4) frequency tunings in the range 180-350 Hz. We propose that the former provides the detection of signal while the latter are used for frequency identification in order to make a behavioral choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry N Lapshin
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kharkevich Institute), Bolshoy Karetny per. 19, Moscow 127994, Russia.
| | - Dmitry D Vorontsov
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova 26, Moscow 119334, Russia.
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23
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Designing Aedes (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquito Traps: The Evolution of the Male Aedes Sound Trap by Iterative Evaluation. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12050388. [PMID: 33925425 PMCID: PMC8146609 DOI: 10.3390/insects12050388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Revised: 04/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Effective surveillance of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, Diptera: Culicidae) is critical to monitoring the impact of vector control measures when mitigating disease transmission by this species. There are benefits to deploying male-specific traps, particularly when a high level of catch-specificity is desired. Here, the rationale behind the developmental process of an entirely new trap which uses a sound lure to capture male Ae. aegypti, the male Aedes sound trap (MAST), is presented as a target product profile with findings from developmental trials of key trap components and performance. Trial results suggest that the presence of a black base associated with the trap influenced male catches as did variations in size of this base, to a degree. Trap entrance shape didn't influence catch rates, but entrance size did. No significant differences in catch rates were found when sound lures were set to intermittent or continuous playbacks, at volumes between 63-74 dB or frequencies of 450 Hz compared to 500 Hz. Additionally, adult males aged 3 days post-eclosion, were less responsive to sound lures set to 500 Hz than those 4 or 6 days old. Lastly, almost no males were caught when the MAST directly faced continual winds of 1.5 ms-1, but males were captured at low rates during intermittent winds, or if the trap faced away from the wind. The developmental process to optimising this trap is applicable to the development of alternate mosquito traps beyond Aedes sound traps and provides useful information towards the improved surveillance of these disease vectors.
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24
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Feugère L, Gibson G, Manoukis NC, Roux O. Mosquito sound communication: are male swarms loud enough to attract females? J R Soc Interface 2021; 18:20210121. [PMID: 33849333 PMCID: PMC8086941 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the unsurpassed sound sensitivity of mosquitoes among arthropods and the sound source power required for long-range hearing, we investigated the distance over which female mosquitoes detect species-specific cues in the sound of station-keeping mating swarms. A common misunderstanding, that mosquitoes cannot hear at long range because their hearing organs are 'particle-velocity' receptors, has clouded the fact that particle velocity is an intrinsic component of sound whatever the distance to the sound source. We exposed free-flying Anopheles coluzzii females to pre-recorded sounds of male An. coluzzii and An. gambiae s.s. swarms over a range of natural sound levels. Sound levels tested were related to equivalent distances between the female and the swarm for a given number of males, enabling us to infer distances over which females might hear large male swarms. We show that females do not respond to swarm sound up to 48 dB sound pressure level (SPL) and that louder SPLs are not ecologically relevant for a swarm. Considering that swarms are the only mosquito sound source that would be loud enough to be heard at long range, we conclude that inter-mosquito acoustic communication is restricted to close-range pair interactions. We also showed that the sensitivity to sound in free-flying males is much enhanced compared to that of tethered ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lionel Feugère
- MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Gabriella Gibson
- Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TB, UK
| | - Nicholas C. Manoukis
- Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research Unit, Daniel K. Inouye US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 64 Nowelo Street, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
| | - Olivier Roux
- MIVEGEC, University of Montpellier, IRD, CNRS, Montpellier, France
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS), 01 BP 545 Bobo-Dioulasso 01, Burkina Faso
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25
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Dou Z, Madan A, Carlson JS, Chung J, Spoleti T, Dimopoulos G, Cammarato A, Mittal R. Acoustotactic response of mosquitoes in untethered flight to incidental sound. Sci Rep 2021; 11:1884. [PMID: 33479423 PMCID: PMC7820424 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-81456-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Mosquitoes are vectors for some of the most devastating diseases on the planet. Given the centrality of acoustic sensing in the precopulatory behavior of these vectors, the use of an exogenous acoustic stimulus offers the potential of interfering with the courtship behavior of these insects. Previous research on the acoustotactic response of mosquitoes has been conducted on tethered preparations using low-intensity sound stimuli. To quantify differences in acoustotactic responses between mosquitos of distinct sex and species, we examined the effects of incidental sound stimuli on the flight behavior of free-flying male vs. female Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. The key variables were sound frequency (100–1000 Hz) and intensity (67–103 dB, measured at 12.5 cm from the source), and the acoustotactic response was measured in terms of the relative increase in flight speed in response to the stimulus. The data show, for the first time, significant sex- and species-specific differences in acoustotactic responses. A. aegypti exhibited a greater response to sound stimulus compared to An. gambiae, and the response also extended over a larger range of frequencies. Furthermore, the males of both species displayed a greater acoustotactic response than females, with An. gambiae females exhibiting minimal response to sound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhongwang Dou
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Aditi Madan
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jenny S Carlson
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Joseph Chung
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Tyler Spoleti
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - George Dimopoulos
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Anthony Cammarato
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Rajat Mittal
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Ear-Bot: Locust Ear-on-a-Chip Bio-Hybrid Platform. SENSORS 2021; 21:s21010228. [PMID: 33401414 PMCID: PMC7795996 DOI: 10.3390/s21010228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 12/29/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
During hundreds of millions of years of evolution, insects have evolved some of the most efficient and robust sensing organs, often far more sensitive than their man-made equivalents. In this study, we demonstrate a hybrid bio-technological approach, integrating a locust tympanic ear with a robotic platform. Using an Ear-on-a-Chip method, we manage to create a long-lasting miniature sensory device that operates as part of a bio-hybrid robot. The neural signals recorded from the ear in response to sound pulses, are processed and used to control the robot’s motion. This work is a proof of concept, demonstrating the use of biological ears for robotic sensing and control.
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Stafstrom JA, Menda G, Nitzany EI, Hebets EA, Hoy RR. Ogre-Faced, Net-Casting Spiders Use Auditory Cues to Detect Airborne Prey. Curr Biol 2020; 30:5033-5039.e3. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Revised: 05/18/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Fernandes MS, Cordeiro W, Recamonde-Mendoza M. Detecting Aedes aegypti mosquitoes through audio classification with convolutional neural networks. Comput Biol Med 2020; 129:104152. [PMID: 33333363 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2020.104152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Revised: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The incidence of mosquito-borne diseases is significant in under-developed regions, mostly due to the lack of resources to implement aggressive control measurements against mosquito proliferation. A potential strategy to raise community awareness regarding mosquito proliferation is building a live map of mosquito incidences using smartphone apps and crowdsourcing. In this paper, we explore the possibility of identifying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes using machine learning techniques and audio analysis captured from commercially available smartphones. In summary, we downsampled Aedes aegypti wingbeat recordings and used them to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) through supervised learning. As a feature, we used the recording spectrogram to represent the mosquito wingbeat frequency over time visually. We trained and compared three classifiers: a binary, a multiclass, and an ensemble of binary classifiers. In our evaluation, the binary and ensemble models achieved accuracy of 97.65% (±0.55) and 94.56% (±0.77), respectively, whereas the multiclass had an accuracy of 78.12% (±2.09). The best sensitivity was observed in the ensemble approach (96.82% ± 1.62), followed by the multiclass for the particular case of Aedes aegypti (90.23% ± 3.83) and the binary (88.49% ± 6.68). The binary classifier and the multiclass classifier presented the best balance between precision and recall, with F1-measure close to 90%. Although the ensemble classifier achieved the lowest precision, thus impairing its F1-measure (79.95% ± 2.13), it was the most powerful classifier to detect Aedes aegypti in our dataset.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Weverton Cordeiro
- Institute of Informatics (INF), Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
| | - Mariana Recamonde-Mendoza
- Institute of Informatics (INF), Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil; Bioinformatics Core, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
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29
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Andrés M, Su MP, Albert J, Cator LJ. Buzzkill: targeting the mosquito auditory system. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 40:11-17. [PMID: 32505906 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Sound plays an important role in mosquito sensory ecology. Acoustic perception and acoustically driven behaviours therefore represent potentially effective control targets. Previous scientific efforts around acoustic-based control and surveillance have not been systematic and ambiguity around the exact role of acoustic communication in conspecific interactions remains. Here, we briefly review recent advances in mosquito auditory physiology and behavioural ecology as well as ongoing activities to incorporate sound into control and surveillance tools. We highlight areas where increased collaboration between physiologists, molecular biologists, behavioural ecologists and control experts is needed to capitalize on this progress and realize the potential of sound-based technologies and strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Andrés
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, NW1 1AT, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew P Su
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; Division of Biological Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan
| | - Joerg Albert
- Ear Institute, University College London, London, WC1X 8EE, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, NW1 1AT, United Kingdom.
| | - Lauren J Cator
- Grand Challenges in Ecosystems and Environment, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
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Wynne NE, Lorenzo MG, Vinauger C. Mechanism and plasticity of vectors' host-seeking behavior. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 40:1-5. [PMID: 32199240 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2020.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2019] [Revised: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 02/05/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The host-seeking behavior of disease vector insects is central to the transmission of pathogens. In this context, an improved understanding of the mechanisms that allow vectors to detect, identify and locate a potential host will be crucial to refine existing control strategies and invent new ones. Host-seeking is mediated by the integration of cues that are processed by multiple sensory modalities, and provide robust information about host location and quality. Responses to these cues are plastic and vary as a function of the vector's internal state, age, and previous experience. Vectors also integrate other factors such as time of day, or even the level of defensiveness of the host. Here, we review the most recent advances on the molecular basis of host-seeking behavior, with a particular emphasis on disease vector mosquitoes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole E Wynne
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
| | - Marcelo G Lorenzo
- Instituto René Rachou/FIOCRUZ, Av. Augusto de Lima, 1715, Barro Preto, CEP: 30 190 009, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Clément Vinauger
- Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
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Yack JE, Raven BH, Leveillee MB, Naranjo M. What Does an Insect Hear? Reassessing the Role of Hearing in Predator Avoidance with Insights from Vertebrate Prey. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:1036-1057. [PMID: 32717080 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Insects have a diversity of hearing organs known to function in a variety of contexts, including reproduction, locating food, and defense. While the role of hearing in predator avoidance has been extensively researched over the past several decades, this research has focused on the detection of one type of predator-echolocating bats. Here we reassess the role of hearing in antipredator defense by considering how insects use their ears to detect and avoid the wide range of predators that consume them. To identify the types of sounds that could be relevant to insect prey, we first review the topic of hearing-mediated predator avoidance in vertebrates. Sounds used by vertebrate prey to assess predation risk include incidental sound cues (e.g., flight sounds, rustling vegetation, and splashing) produced by an approaching predator or another escaping prey, as well as communication signals produced by a predator (e.g., echolocation calls, songs) or nonpredator (e.g., alarm calls). We then review what is known, and what is not known, about such sounds made by the main predators and parasitoids of insects (i.e., birds, bats, terrestrial vertebrates, and invertebrates) and how insects respond to them. Three key insights emerged from our review. First, there is a lack of information on how both vertebrate and insect prey use passive sound cues produced by predators to avoid being captured. Second, while there are numerous examples of vertebrate prey eavesdropping on the calls and songs of predators and nonpredators to assess risk, there are currently no such examples for eared insect prey. Third, the hearing sensitivity of many insects, including those with ears considered to be dedicated to detecting bats or mates, overlaps with both sound cues and signals generated by nonbat predators. Sounds of particular relevance to insect prey include the flight sounds and calls of insectivorous birds, the flight sounds of insect predators and parasitoids, and rustling vegetation sounds of birds and terrestrial predators. We conclude that research on the role of insect hearing in predator avoidance has been disproportionally focused on bat-detection, and that acoustically-mediated responses to other predators may have been overlooked because the responses of prey may be subtle (e.g., ceasing activity, increasing vigilance). We recommend that researchers expand their testing of hearing-mediated risk assessment in insects by considering the wide range of sounds generated by predators, and the varied responses exhibited by prey to these sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jayne E Yack
- Department of Biology, Nesbitt Biology Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Brianna H Raven
- Department of Biology, Nesbitt Biology Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Michelle B Leveillee
- Department of Biology, Nesbitt Biology Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Mairelys Naranjo
- Department of Biology, Nesbitt Biology Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
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Raboin M, Elias DO. Anthropogenic noise and the bioacoustics of terrestrial invertebrates. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:222/12/jeb178749. [PMID: 31217253 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.178749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Anthropogenic noise is an important issue of environmental concern owing to its wide-ranging effects on the physiology, behavior and ecology of animals. To date, research has focused on the impacts of far-field airborne noise (i.e. pressure waves) on vertebrates, with few exceptions. However, invertebrates and the other acoustic modalities they rely on, primarily near-field airborne and substrate-borne sound (i.e. particle motion and vibrations, respectively) have received little attention. Here, we review the literature on the impacts of different types of anthropogenic noise (airborne far-field, airborne near-field, substrate-borne) on terrestrial invertebrates. Using literature on invertebrate bioacoustics, we propose a framework for understanding the potential impact of anthropogenic noise on invertebrates and outline predictions of possible constraints and adaptations for invertebrates in responding to anthropogenic noise. We argue that understanding the impacts of anthropogenic noise requires us to consider multiple modalities of sound and to cultivate a broader understanding of invertebrate bioacoustics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggie Raboin
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Damian O Elias
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Taylor CJ, Yack JE. Hearing in Caterpillars of the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus). J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.211862. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.211862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2019] [Accepted: 10/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Many species of caterpillars have been reported to respond to sound, but there has been limited formal study of what sounds they hear, how they hear them, and how they respond to them. Here we report on hearing in caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Fourth and fifth instar caterpillars respond to sounds by freezing, contracting, and flicking their thorax in a vertical direction. Behavioural responses were evoked by sound frequencies between 50 and 900 Hz, with best sensitivity at 100-200 Hz. The lowest mean threshold was 79 dBSPL (particle velocity 605 µm/s) at 150 Hz. When presented with a repeated 200 Hz sound tone, caterpillars habituate by no longer responding. A series of ablation experiments confirmed that the primary sensory receptors are a pair of long hairs, called trichoid sensilla, located on the upper prothorax. These sensilla are ∼450 µm long, rest in a socket, and are innervated by a single bipolar sensory neuron. Removal of these setae reduced responses significantly compared to controls. Other setae contributed minimally to hearing in response to 200 Hz tones, and tubercles and prothoracic shields played no apparent role in sound reception. We propose that hearing functions to prevent attacks by aerial insect predators and parasitoids, which produce flight sounds in the frequency range of the caterpillars’ sensitivity. This research lays the foundation for further investigations on the function and evolution of hearing in caterpillars, and has significance for conservation of threatened monarch butterfly larvae living near noisy urban environments and roadways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chantel J. Taylor
- Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Jayne E. Yack
- Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6, Canada
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