Meeting Abstract

77.6  Tuesday, Jan. 6  Using characterized air flow to explain insect pheromone tracking behavior. TALLEY, Jennifer L.*; CHIEL, Hillel J.; WHITE, Edward B.; WILLIS, Mark A.; Case Western Reserve University; Case Western Reserve University; Texas A & M University; Case Western Reserve University jlt17@case.edu

Male American cockroaches and tobacco hornworm moths exhibit stereotypical odor tracking to female sex pheromones. We plan to address the differences in these two insects behavior (a product of mode of locomotion, sensory systems, and the environment in which they are embedded) by characterizing the lab wind tunnel where the insects are performing odor tracking behavior. We used hot wire anemometry to measure the flow where roaches walk and moths fly under different turbulent conditions at the wind speeds used for roaches (25 cm/s) and moths (100 cm/s). Our conditions were designed to predictably manipulate the temporal and spatial structure of the flow: 1) control (without added turbulent structures), 2) a grid spanning the cross-section of the wind tunnel, 3) a cylinder placed perpendicular to the flow direction, and 4) the cylinder placed downwind of the grid. The control treatment is less turbulent than the grid condition which is less turbulent than the cylinder and grid & cylinder conditions. We found that at 25 cm/s, within the boundary layer, there is more temporal information but less spatial information available in the turbulent conditions than in the control condition. Roaches challenged to track an odor plume in the grid condition steer more into the mean wind direction, tend to aim their bodies more directly upwind, and walk faster than in the control condition. Roaches in cylinder conditions steer more off the mean wind direction and stop longer and more often. Their responses to the grid and cylinder in series are intermediate to their responses to grid or cylinder alone. Ultimately, moth behavior under these same conditions will be measured and compared.