A new microcomputer-based method for measuring walking phonotaxis in field crickets (Gryllidae)

Response properties of spiking and non-spiking brain neurons mirror pulse interval selectivity

In the bispotted field cricket auditory pulse pattern recognition of the species-specific calling song is based on a delay-line and coincidence detection network, established by the activity and synaptic connections of only 5 auditory neurons in the brain. To obtain a more detailed understanding of the network and the dynamic of the neural activity over time we analyzed the response properties of these neurons to test patterns, in which the pulse duration was kept constant while the duration of specific pulse intervals was systematically altered. We confirm that the ascending interneuron AN1 and the local interneuron LN2 copy the structure of the pulse pattern, however with limited resolution at short pulse intervals, further evident in downstream neural responses. In the non-spiking delay-line interneuron LN5 during long pulse intervals full-blown rebound potentials develop over a time course of 35–70 ms. LN5 also reveals an overall increase in its membrane potential tuned to chirps of the calling song pulse pattern. This may contribute to the pattern recognition process by driving the activity of the coincidence-detector LN3 and may indicate a further function of the delay-line neuron LN5. The activity of LN3 and of the feature detector LN4 match the tuning of the phonotactic behavior and demonstrate an increasingly sparse coding of the calling song pulse patterns as evident in the response of the feature detector LN4. The circuitry reveals a fundamental mechanism of auditory pattern recognition and demonstrates a principle of neuronal coding.

Naturalistic path integration of Cataglyphis desert ants on an air-cushioned lightweight spherical treadmill

Air-cushioned spheres are widely used as treadmills to study behavioural and neurophysiological questions in numerous species. We describe an improved spherical treadmill design that reliably registers the path and walking behaviour of an animal walking on top of the sphere. The simple and robust set-up consists of a very light hollowed styrofoam ball supported by an air stream in a hollow half sphere and can be used indoors and outdoors. Two optical mouse sensors provided with lenses of 4.6 mm focal length detect the motion of the sphere with a temporal resolution of more than 200 frames s^-1 and a spatial resolution of less than 0.2 mm. The treadmill can be used in an open- or closed-loop configuration with respect to yaw of the animal. The tethering allows animals to freely adjust their body posture and in the closed-loop configuration to quickly rotate around their yaw axis with their own moment of inertia. In this account, we present the first evidence of naturalistic homing navigation on a spherical treadmill for two species of Cataglyphis desert ants. We were able to evaluate with good precision the walking speed and angular orientation at any time. During homing the ants showed a significant difference in walking speed between the approach and search phases; moreover, they slowed down significantly as soon as they reached zero vector state, the fictive nest position.

QUANTITATIVE GENETICS OF SEXUAL SELECTION IN THE FIELD CRICKET, GRYLLUS INTEGER

Major theories of sexual selection predict heritable variation in female preferences and male traits and a positive genetic correlation between preference and trait. Here we show that female Texas field crickets, Gryllus integer, have heritable genetic variation for the male calling song stimulus level that produces the greatest phonotactic response. Approximately 34% of the variation in female preferences was due to additive genetic effects. Female choosiness, that is, the strength of the female response to her most preferred stimulus relative to her average response to all stimuli, did not show significant genetic effects. The male calling song character was not related to male size or age but did show significant genetic effects. Approximately 39% of the variation in the number of pulses per trill was due to additive genetic variation. The genetic correlation estimated for the field population was 0.51 ± 0.17. The number of pulses per trill produced by males is under stabilizing sexual selection.

How male sound pressure level influences phonotaxis in virgin female Jamaican field crickets (Gryllus assimilis)

Understanding female mate preference is important for determining the strength and direction of sexual trait evolution. The sound pressure level (SPL) acoustic signalers use is often an important predictor of mating success because higher sound pressure levels are detectable at greater distances. If females are more attracted to signals produced at higher sound pressure levels, then the potential fitness impacts of signalling at higher sound pressure levels should be elevated beyond what would be expected from detection distance alone. Here we manipulated the sound pressure level of cricket mate attraction signals to determine how female phonotaxis was influenced. We examined female phonotaxis using two common experimental methods: spherical treadmills and open arenas. Both methods showed similar results, with females exhibiting greatest phonotaxis towards loud sound pressure levels relative to the standard signal (69 vs. 60 dB SPL) but showing reduced phonotaxis towards very loud sound pressure level signals relative to the standard (77 vs. 60 dB SPL). Reduced female phonotaxis towards supernormal stimuli may signify an acoustic startle response, an absence of other required sensory cues, or perceived increases in predation risk.

FicTrac: a visual method for tracking spherical motion and generating fictive animal paths

Studying how animals interface with a virtual reality can further our understanding of how attention, learning and memory, sensory processing, and navigation are handled by the brain, at both the neurophysiological and behavioural levels. To this end, we have developed a novel vision-based tracking system, FicTrac (Fictive path Tracking software), for estimating the path an animal makes whilst rotating an air-supported sphere using only input from a standard camera and computer vision techniques. We have found that the accuracy and robustness of FicTrac outperforms a low-cost implementation of a standard optical mouse-based approach for generating fictive paths. FicTrac is simple to implement for a wide variety of experimental configurations and, importantly, is fast to execute, enabling real-time sensory feedback for behaving animals. We have used FicTrac to record the behaviour of tethered honeybees, Apis mellifera, whilst presenting visual stimuli in both open-loop and closed-loop experimental paradigms. We found that FicTrac could accurately register the fictive paths of bees as they walked towards bright green vertical bars presented on an LED arena. Using FicTrac, we have demonstrated closed-loop visual fixation in both the honeybee and the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, establishing the flexibility of this system. FicTrac provides the experimenter with a simple yet adaptable system that can be combined with electrophysiological recording techniques to study the neural mechanisms of behaviour in a variety of organisms, including walking vertebrates.

How age influences phonotaxis in virgin female Jamaican field crickets (Gryllus assimilis)

Female mating preference can be a dominant force shaping the evolution of sexual signals. However, females rarely have consistent mating preferences throughout their lives. Preference flexibility results from complex interactions of predation risk, social and sexual experience, and age. Because residual reproductive value should theoretically decline with age, older females should not be as choosy as younger females. We explored how age influences phonotaxis towards a standard mate attraction signal using a spherical treadmill (trackball) and a no-choice experimental protocol. Female Jamaican field crickets, Gryllus assimilis, were highly variable in their phonotaxis; age explained up to 64% of this variation. Females 10 days post imaginal eclosion and older oriented toward the mate attraction signal, with 10- and 13-day females exhibiting the greatest movement in the direction of the signal. Our study suggests 10- and 13-day old females would be most responsive when quantifying the preference landscape for G. assimilis sexual signals.

Processing of species-specific auditory patterns in the cricket brain by ascending, local, and descending neurons during standing and walking

The recognition of the male calling song is essential for phonotaxis in female crickets. We investigated the responses toward different models of song patterns by ascending, local, and descending neurons in the brain of standing and walking crickets. We describe results for two ascending, three local, and two descending interneurons. Characteristic dendritic and axonal arborizations of the local and descending neurons indicate a flow of auditory information from the ascending interneurons toward the lateral accessory lobes and point toward the relevance of this brain region for cricket phonotaxis. Two aspects of auditory processing were studied: the tuning of interneuron activity to pulse repetition rate and the precision of pattern copying. Whereas ascending neurons exhibited weak, low-pass properties, local neurons showed both low- and band-pass properties, and descending neurons represented clear band-pass filters. Accurate copying of single pulses was found at all three levels of the auditory pathway. Animals were walking on a trackball, which allowed an assessment of the effect that walking has on auditory processing. During walking, all neurons were additionally activated, and in most neurons, the spike rate was correlated to walking velocity. The number of spikes elicited by a chirp increased with walking only in ascending neurons, whereas the peak instantaneous spike rate of the auditory responses increased on all levels of the processing pathway. Extra spiking activity resulted in a somewhat degraded copying of the pulse pattern in most neurons.

Tama-kugel: Hardware and software for measuring direction, distance, and velocity of locomotion by insects

We have developed an accurate and inexpensive system for recording the path taken by a moving insect. The system consists of a low-mass ball on which the loosely tethered insect runs, an optical sensor to detect rotation of the ball, and software written in Visual Basic 6.0 that interprets and records the hardware's output. The ball floats on a cushion of air. The optical sensor's output is encoded as changes in x, y coordinates. The software monitors this output continually, and records each new x, y pair and the time at which it occurred. Since the system records only those data that have changed, the output files are compact. In its present form, the system is calibrated to detect changes in the animal's position roughly equivalent to one body length. It can accurately record the details of paths hundreds of meters long. We have applied the system to measure the paths taken by female crickets in response to male calls that differ in their temporal structure.

An inexpensive sub-millisecond system for walking measurements of small animals based on optical computer mouse technology

Stimuli from a broad spectrum of sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, thermal, and chemical, can elicit walking responses in animals, reflecting neural activity in sensorimotor pathways. We have developed an integrated walking measurement system with sub-millisecond temporal accuracy capable of detecting position changes on the order of 100 microm. This tracking system provides the experimenter with a means by which to map out the response spectrum of a tethered animal to any number of sensory inputs on time scales relevant to propagation in the nervous system. The data acquisition system consists of a modified optical computer mouse, a microcontroller with peripheral support circuitry, a binary stimulus sync line, and a serial (RS-232) data transfer interface. The entire system is constructed of relatively inexpensive components mostly converted from commercially available peripheral devices. We have acquired walking data synchronized with auditory stimuli at rates in excess of 2100 samples per second while applying this system to the walking phonotactic response of the parasitic fly Ormia ochracea.

Pulses, patterns and paths: neurobiology of acoustic behaviour in crickets

Crickets use acoustic communication for pair formation. Males sing with rhythmical movements of their wings and the mute females approach the singing males by phonotaxis. Females walking on a trackball rapidly steer towards single sound pulses when exposed to split-song paradigms. Their walking path emerges from consecutive reactive steering responses, which show no temporal selectivity. Temporal pattern recognition is tuned to the species-specific syllable rate and gradually changes the gain of auditory steering. If pattern recognition is based on instantaneous discharge rate coding, then the tuning to the species-specific song pattern may already be present at the level of thoracic interneurons. During the processing of song patterns, changes in cytosolic Ca(2+ )concentrations occur in phase with the chirp rhythm in the local auditory interneurone. Male singing behaviour is controlled by command neurons descending from the brain. The neuropil controlling singing behaviour is located in the anterior protocerebrum next to the mushroom bodies. Singing behaviour is released by injection of cholinergic agonists and inhibited by gamma-butyric acid (GABA). During singing, the sensitivity of the peripheral auditory system remains unchanged but a corollary discharge inhibits auditory processing in afferents and interneurons within the prothoracic auditory neuropil and prevents the auditory neurons from desensitisation.

Mechanisms underlying phonotactic steering in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus revealed with a fast trackball system

Phonotactic steering behaviour of the cricket G. bimaculatus was analysed with a new highly sensitive trackball system providing a spatial and temporal resolution of 127 microm and 0.3 ms, respectively. Orientation to artificial calling songs started at 45 dB SPL, it increased up to 75 dB SPL and then saturated. When exposed to two identical patterns of different intensity, crickets significantly steered towards the louder sound pattern, whenever the intensity difference was greater than 1 dB. Bilateral latency differences in sound presentation did not always cause clear orientation towards the leading side. The overall walking direction depended on the number of sound pulses perceived from the left or right side with the animals turning towards the side providing the larger number of pulses. The recordings demonstrated rapid changes in walking direction performed even during a chirp. These rapid steering responses occurred with a latency of 55-60 ms, well before the central nervous system had time to evaluate the temporal structure of a whole chirp. When every other sound pulse was presented from opposite directions, the crickets followed the temporal pattern of sound presentation and rapidly steered towards the left and right side. Steering towards individual sound pulses does not agree with the proposal that crickets analyse the quality of sound patterns and then steer towards the better pattern. Rather, these experiments suggest that fast steering to single sound pulses determines the lateral deviation of the animals and that complex auditory orientation emerges from this simple mechanism of auditory steering.

Sexual selection and speciation in field crickets

Recent theoretical work has shown that sexual selection may cause speciation under a much wider range of conditions than previously supposed. There are, however, no empirical studies capable of simultaneously evaluating several key predictions that contrast this with other speciation models. We present data on male pulse rates and female phonotactic responses to pulse rates for the field cricket Gryllus texensis; pulse rate is the key feature distinguishing G. texensis from its cryptic sister species G. rubens. We show (i) genetic variation in male song and in female preference for song, (ii) a genetic correlation between the male trait and the female preference, and (iii) no character displacement in male song, female song recognition, female species-level song discrimination, or female song preference. Combined with previous work demonstrating a lack of hybrid inviability, these results suggest that divergent sexual selection may have caused speciation between these taxa.

A motion tracking system for simultaneous recording of rapid locomotion and neural activity from an insect

We have adapted techniques for studying the locomotion of tethered insects to analysis of rapid directional movements such as escape behavior. We describe here a computer-based motion tracking system that allows an animal to turn and run as rapidly as it does under free-ranging conditions, and that samples fast enough to accurately reconstruct the movements. Furthermore, we have designed chronic electrodes that allow for simultaneous extracellular recording of the activity of interneurons related to behavior. We used this system to record the escape response of tethered cockroaches, Periplaneta americana, and compared the data with those obtained from high-speed videographic analysis of the same animals under free-ranging conditions. In the motion tracking system, animals were normally responsive to sensory input, and expressed directional escape turning responses. This system allows details of an entire escape response (initial turn and subsequent running) to be quantified. These behavioral details can now be correlated with the discharge of key interneurons on a trial-by-trial basis.

Quantitative analysis of spider locomotion employing computer-automated video tracking

The locomotor activity of adult specimens of the wolf spider Pardosa amentata was measured in an open-field setup, using computer-automated colour object video tracking. The x,y coordinates of the animal in the digitized image of the test arena were recorded three times per second during four consecutive 12-h periods, alternating between white and red (lambda > 600 nm) illumination. Male spiders were significantly more locomotor active than female spiders under both lighting conditions. They walked, on average, twice the distance of females, employed higher velocities, and spent less time in quiescence. Both male and female P. amentata were significantly less active in red light (simulated dark environment) than in white light. The results also revealed that P. amentata administers its walking velocity and periods of quiescence according to consistent distributions, which can be approximated by simple mathematical expressions. It was found that this species spends exponentially decreasing time at increasing velocities. The number of quiescent periods, however, follow a power decay distribution at increasing quiescent period duration.

Temperature coupling in cricket acoustic communication. I. Field and laboratory studies of temperature effects on calling song production and recognition in Gryllus firmus

Temperature effects on calling song production and recognition were investigated in the North American field cricket, Gryllus firmus. Temporal parameters of field-recorded G. firmus calling song are strongly affected by temperature. Chirp rate and syllable rate increase, by factors of 4 and 2, respectively, as linear functions of temperature over the range in which these animals sing in the field (12 degrees-30 degrees C). Temperature affects syllable duration to a lesser extent, and does not influence calling song carrier frequency. Female phonotactic preference, measured on a spherical treadmill in the laboratory, also changes with temperature such that warmer females prefer songs with faster chirp and syllable rates. Best phonotaxis, measured as accuracy of orientation to the sound source, and highest walking velocity, occur in response to temperature-matched songs at 15 degrees, 21 degrees, and 30 degrees C. Experiments under semi-natural conditions in an outdoor arena revealed that females perform phonotaxis at temperatures as low as 13 degrees C. Taken together, the song and phonotaxis data demonstrate that this communication system is temperature coupled. A strategy is outlined by which temperature coupling may be exploited to test hypotheses about the organization of neural networks subserving song recognition.

Temperature coupling in cricket acoustic communication. II. Localization of temperature effects on song production and recognition networks in Gryllus firmus

Acoustic communication in Gryllus firmus is temperature-coupled: temperature induces parallel changes in male calling song temporal pattern, and in female preference for song. Temperature effects on song production and recognition networks were localized by selectively warming head or thorax or both head and thorax of intact crickets, then eliciting aggression song production (males) or phonotaxis to synthetic calling song (females). Because male song is produced by a thoracic central pattern generator (CPG), and because head ganglia are necessary for female song recognition, measurements of female phonotaxis under such conditions may be used to test the following competing hypotheses about organization of the song recognition network: 1. A set of neurons homologous to the male song CPG exist in the female, and are used as a template that determines preferred values of song temporal parameters for song pattern recognition (the common neural elements hypothesis), and 2. temporal pattern preference is determined entirely within the head ganglia. Neither selective warming of the head nor of the thorax was effective in changing female song preference, but simultaneous warming of head and thorax shifted preference toward a faster song in most preparations, as did warming the whole animal by raising ambient temperature. These results suggest that phonotactic preference for song temporal pattern is plurisegmentally determined in field crickets. Selective warming experiments during aggression song production in males revealed that syllable period is influenced but not completely determined by thoracic temperature; head temperature is irrelevant. The song CPG appears to receive some rate-setting information from outside the thoracic central nervous system.