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Males Chasing Females: A Comparison of Flying Manduca sexta and Walking Periplaneta americana Male Tracking Behavior to Female Sex Pheromones in Different Flow Environments

Talley, Jennifer Lindy
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1278622421

Abstract Details

2010, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Biology.
Molecules evaporating from objects are carried by air creating a plume of odor that many animals use to find ecologically important resources. Odor plumes are dominated by turbulence (fluctuations in air velocity) when carried long distances, which results in a patchily distributed odor with high and low concentration areas surrounded by clean air. The consequence of this patchy distribution is that concentration itself is not a reliable directional signal for navigation towards a source. Therefore, many insects orient to the direction of air flow to aim themselves toward a source. When tracking species-specific sex pheromone within an experimental wind tunnel, the males of the Tobacco Hornworm Moth (Manduca sexta) fly and the American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana) walk, orienting themselves upwind. These males alter their tracking behavior in response to changing flow and odor signals caused by structures designed to mimic natural turbulence. Flow and odor signal characterizations with hot wire anemometry and electroantennograms explain those differences in the behavior of walking and flying trackers; walking cockroaches appear to respond better to spatial flow information and distinct odor/clean-air boundaries while flying moths appear to respond better to temporal flow information and odor plumes with larger cross sections. However, my results also show that cockroaches may be capable of a more complex odor tracking strategy than a purely spatial comparison between their two antennae because unilaterally antennectomized cockroaches can track a plume and find an attractive odor source. Computer simulations show how purely spatial or temporal control algorithms perform in different turbulent odor distributions, and are then used to test hypotheses about how flying and walking trackers utilize flow and odor signal information differently to find a source. The changes in behavior of insects tracking odor using different modes of locomotion in different environments are understood through measurements of the change in flow and odor information in those environments. Hypotheses developed from these studies are then tested in computer simulated environments with simulated sensors that match the odor and flow information in the experimental wind tunnel to illustrate how well those hypotheses explain the observed behavior.
Mark A. Willis, PhD (Advisor)
Christopher A. Cullis, PhD (Committee Chair)
Hillel J. Chiel, PhD (Committee Member)
Debra Wood, PhD (Committee Member)
Roy E. Ritzmann, PhD (Committee Member)
Edward B. White, PhD (Committee Member)
249 p.
Behaviorial Sciences; Biology
chemo-orientation; pheromone; tracking behavior; electroantennogram; antennectomy; simulation; odor plumes; anemotaxis; spatial; temporal; periplaneta americana; manduca sexta; insect; flight; walking;

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Citations

  • Talley, J. L. (2010). Males Chasing Females: A Comparison of Flying Manduca sexta and Walking Periplaneta americana Male Tracking Behavior to Female Sex Pheromones in Different Flow Environments [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1278622421

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Talley, Jennifer. Males Chasing Females: A Comparison of Flying Manduca sexta and Walking Periplaneta americana Male Tracking Behavior to Female Sex Pheromones in Different Flow Environments. 2010. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1278622421.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Talley, Jennifer. "Males Chasing Females: A Comparison of Flying Manduca sexta and Walking Periplaneta americana Male Tracking Behavior to Female Sex Pheromones in Different Flow Environments." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1278622421

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1278622421
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© 2010, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.