Living organisms use substrate-borne vibrations for interacting with their environment, where vibrational signals and cues can evoke a diverse range of responses, leading to benefits or detriments ...for the sender and/or receiver based on the context.Vibrational signals mediate a variety of animal behaviors, and, notably, plants can gain crucial information by detecting vibrations caused by herbivores, sometimes resulting in the establishment of mutualistic interactions with insects.Drawing inspiration from the terminology established in chemical ecology, we propose the introduction of the terms ‘pherodones’ for intraspecific interactions and ‘allelodones’ for interspecific interactions.
Living organisms use both chemical and mechanical stimuli to survive in their environment. Substrate-borne vibrations play a significant role in mediating behaviors in animals and inducing physiological responses in plants, leading to the emergence of the discipline of biotremology. Biotremology is experiencing rapid growth both in fundamental research and in applications like pest control, drawing attention from diverse audiences. As parallels with concepts and approaches in chemical ecology emerge, there is a pressing need for a shared standardized vocabulary in the area of overlap for mutual understanding. In this article, we propose an updated set of terms in biotremology rooted in chemical ecology, using the suffix ‘-done’ derived from the classic Greek word ‘δονέω’ (pronounced ‘doneo’), meaning ‘to shake’.
Living organisms use both chemical and mechanical stimuli to survive in their environment. Substrate-borne vibrations play a significant role in mediating behaviors in animals and inducing physiological responses in plants, leading to the emergence of the discipline of biotremology. Biotremology is experiencing rapid growth both in fundamental research and in applications like pest control, drawing attention from diverse audiences. As parallels with concepts and approaches in chemical ecology emerge, there is a pressing need for a shared standardized vocabulary in the area of overlap for mutual understanding. In this article, we propose an updated set of terms in biotremology rooted in chemical ecology, using the suffix ‘-done’ derived from the classic Greek word ‘δονέω’ (pronounced ‘doneo’), meaning ‘to shake’.
Communication with substrate‐borne vibrational signals is common in the family Pentatomidae, although this aspect of biology of the invasive pest Halyomorpha halys Stål remains unexplored so far. In ...the present study, the behaviour of single animals and pairs is observed on a bean plant and a loudspeaker membrane at the same time as recording substrate vibrations with a laser vibrometer, with the aim of adding to the existing description of mating behaviour. The male H. halys emit long, narrow‐band vibrational signals spontaneously to which the nearby females reply with their own vibrational signals, triggering male searching. During this phase, the insects emit two (in females) or three song types (in males) in various combinations, until they come into physical contact, after which the final male song type, characterized by tremulation, is the only kind of vibratory emission. Females never start singing spontaneously and the mating sequence does not proceed if either partner is silent. Male signals do not attract males or females and so vibrations are unlikely to play a role in maintaining the aggregations that are characteristic of this species, whereas female signals show promise for developing behavioural manipulation methods against this invasive pest.
Abstract The invasive alien stink bug Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), native to eastern‐southern Africa and central‐southern Asia, poses significant economic threats to ...agroecosystems due to its polyphagous diet with a preference for brassicaceous crops. Current control methods using broad‐spectrum insecticides are expensive and often result in significant negative ecological impacts, as well as posing a health risk to consumers. This study provides a detailed description of the mating behavior of B. hilaris , with the aim to ascertain whether substrate‐borne vibrations have a role in premating phases. Such knowledge may contribute to the development of alternative biorational control techniques employing vibrational strategies. Virgin adults were tested individually or in pairs on different substrates, that is, a loudspeaker membrane and a bean plant. Vibrations emitted by males and females were recorded using a laser Doppler vibrometer, and the following spectral and temporal parameters were analyzed: fundamental frequency, emission time, repetition time, and signal modulation. Three distinct types of vibration emitted by males and females were identified: a male vibrotype (MV‐1), a female vibrotype (FV), and a copula signal exclusively emitted by males (MS‐2). MV‐1 and FV were emitted prior to genitalia contact, whereas MS‐2 was emitted within the mounting and engagement phases. Statistical analysis revealed significant transitions in behavioral phases for couples that achieved mating. By analyzing the walking behavior, there was an inverse relationship between motility and signal emission when comparing the two sexes, which suggests that males might engage in a form of searching behavior. These findings provide insight into the crucial role of vibrational communication to achieve mating in B. hilaris .
Abstract A recurrent question in animal contests is whether individuals adopt a self or mutual assessment rule to decide to withdraw from a contest. However, many empirical studies fail to find ...conclusive support for one of these two possibilities. A possible explanation is that assessment strategies vary between individuals. In the contests of the orb-web spider Trichonephila clavipes, males perform a vibrational display on webs that may escalate to physical contact. Since all individuals perform the vibrational phase and only some of them escalate, we proposed 2 hypotheses: (1) all individuals perform mutual assessment during the vibrational phase, or (2) some individuals that do not escalate adopt self-assessment, while individuals that escalated adopt mutual assessment. To evaluate these hypotheses, we investigated the relationship between the duration of the vibrational phase and frontal leg length (a proxy of male fight capacity) of loser and winner males in contests that escalated and did not escalate to the physical contact phase. We found a non-significant relationship between duration and losers leg length for both contests that escalate and did not escalate. While we found a positive relationship between duration and winners leg length, particularly in contests that did not escalate. These results do not provide support for mutual assessment or for a mix of different assessment rules among individuals. We suggest that in T. clavipes, the dynamics of the vibrational phase may be explained by two different contest strategies (opponent-only assessment or size-based aggressiveness) that are dependent on intruder motivation to escalate.
Female black widow spiders, Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin and Ivie (Araneae: Theridiidae), are solitary predators of arthropods with no tolerance for intruders on the webs. In California, L. ...hesperus are found in urban and agricultural settings and can be a phytosanitary pest in fresh produce. Spatial separation of L. hesperus webs could be determined by seasonal population densities, with territorial competition expected under high densities in the environment. However, little is known about female-female communication behaviors in this species. In 1-hr laboratory observations, displays of female-female rivalry included production of vibrational signals in a majority (20 of 30) of trials. The number of signals produced by both females was highest during the initial 10 min of trials, with signaling rate (time interval between signals) peaking during the 40–50 min observation period. The overall ratio of signals produced by the resident female and the introduced female was about 5:1, with the number of signals produced by the resident female higher than the number of signals produced by the introduced female. Analysis of rivalry signals showed a peak in magnitude (about 0.4 m/s) ranging from 6 to 23 Hz and smaller peaks at about 29, 38, and 47 Hz. Collectively, these results demonstrate that female L. hesperus exhibit territorial rivalry and that female-female rivalry is mediated by emission of vibrational signals through the web. Understanding the mechanisms of intraspecific competition in L. hesperus is required for elucidating interspecific interactions in the environment and may lead to development of novel methods to prevent spiders from colonizing crops.
Mate choice involves processing signals that can reach high levels of complexity and feature multiple components, even in small animals with tiny brains. This raises the question of whether and how ...such organisms deal with this complexity. One solution involves combinatorial processing, whereby different signal elements are processed as single units. Combinatorial processing has been described in several mammals and birds, and recently in a vibrationally signalling insect,
Enchenopa
treehoppers. Here, we ask about the relationship between combinatorial rules and mate preferences for continuously varying signal features.
Enchenopa
male advertisement signals are composed of two elements: a ‘whine’ followed by a set of pulses. The dominant frequency of the whine and element combination both matter to females. We presented synthetic signals varying in element order (natural whine-pulses, reverse pulses-whine) and in frequency to
Enchenopa
females and recorded their responses. The reverse combination resulted in a decrease in attractiveness of the signals, and also slightly changed the shape of the preference for frequency. We found that females could be classified into three ‘types’: females with both a strong preference and a strong combinatorial rule, females with both a weak preference and weak rule, and females with a strong preference but a weak rule. Our results suggest that in
Enchenopa
signal processing, the mate preference for a continuous signal feature ‘takes precedence’ over, but also interacts with, the combinatorial rule. The relationship between the preference and the rule could evolve to take different forms according to selection on mate choice decisions. We suggest that exploring the relationship between such preferences and rules in species with more complex signals will bring insight into the evolution of the multi-component communication systems.
Referential communication provides a sophisticated way in which animals can communicate information about their environment. Previously, research demonstrated that honey bee stop signals encode ...predator danger in their fundamental frequency and danger context in their duration. Here, we show that these signals also encode danger in their vibrational amplitude. Stop signals elicited by the more dangerous predator, the large hornet (Vespa mandarinia) had significantly 1.5-fold higher vibrational amplitudes than those elicited by the small hornet predator (Vespa velutina). We measured the freezing vibrational response thresholds, and show that natural signals exceed these response thresholds. Finally, with artificial playbacks of the vibratory stop signal, we demonstrate that these signals referentially encode the danger that foragers experience at food source. Stop signals elicited by the larger and significantly more dangerous predator (V. mandarinia) were significantly 1.4-fold more inhibitory than stop signals elicited by the smaller and less dangerous predator (V. velutina).
•Honey bee stop signals encode danger in their vibrational amplitude.•Signals elicited by the more dangerous predator had higher vibrational amplitudes.•These signals exceed the separately measured response thresholds.•Playbacks demonstrated referential encoding.
The tea leafhopper, Empoasca onukii , relies on substrate-borne vibrations for sexual communication and is mainly controlled with chemical pesticides, which poses risks to the environment and food ...safety. Based on previous studies, we conducted a series of behavioral assays by simultaneous observation of vibration signals and movement to investigate the mating and post-copulation behavior of tea leafhoppers. During mating, the activity of E. onukii was restricted to dawn and dusk and concentrated on the sixth or seventh mature leaf below the tea bud. By comparing the time spent in locating females among different males, the timely reply of females was the key factor affecting mating success. Empoasca onukii females mated only once in their lives, while males could mate multiple times. Male rivalry behavior involved two distinct strategies. The rivals could send disruptive pulses to overlap the male calling signals, locate the courting males, and drive them away after contact. Some rivals could emit mating disruption signals (MDSs) to interrupt the ongoing identification duet and establish their own mating communication. Both identification and location duets could be interrupted by playback of MDSs, which is essential to create effective synthetic signals to disrupt mating communication of E. onukii . Our study clarified the spatial and temporal distribution of E. onukii in mating and the function of MDSs, which will be essential to develop future vibrational mating disruption techniques for E. onukii and its energy-efficient application in the field.
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