Meeting Abstract

P3.57  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  Influence of ambient temperature on the pre-flight and flight activities of pheromone-stimulated male moths CRESPO, J.G.*; GOLLER, F.; VICKERS, N.J.; University of Utah; University of Utah; University of Utah jose.crespo@utah.edu

Male moths fly upwind when detecting pheromone molecules emitted by a conspecific female. In order to sustain flight, endothermic insects require their flight muscles be sufficiently heated for take-off. This pre-flight shivering behavior is also affected by environmental conditions such as ambient temperature and wind speed. Our previous results showed that male Helicoverpa zea started to warm up earlier, took-off at lower thoracic temperatures and spent less time warming up when exposed to the attractive pheromone blend as opposed to incomplete pheromone blends. Here, we investigated the effects of take-off temperature as well as that of varying ambient temperatures on pheromone tracking performance. We tested this by simultaneously recording the thoracic temperature of freely behaving H. zea males during pre-flight warm-up (with an infrared camera) and their subsequent flight tracks when flying upwind towards an attractive pheromone source. Moths were tested at 3 ambient temperatures in the wind tunnel, 19°C, 22°C and 26°C. As expected, male moths took less time to warm-up before taking flight in warmer temperatures. Interestingly, these males flew faster and arrived at the source earlier than male moths tested in colder conditions. And finally, a higher percentage of males flying in warm temperatures successfully tracked the odor and arrived at the source. These findings indicate that ambient temperature is not only affecting the amount of time male moths need to spend warming up, but also how their flight tracking abilities vary when following the plume of an attractive odor. Acknowledgments: Supported by NSF IOS-1147233 to NJV, NSF DDIG IOS-1110836 to JGC and NIH DC06876 to FG.