Meeting Abstract

97.3  Monday, Jan. 6 14:00  Odor plume tracking behavior may be locomotion dependent. WILLIS, M.A.*; AVONDET, J.L; BROWN, K.; MILLIGAN, J.M.; Case Western Reserve University; Case Western Reserve University; Case Western Reserve University; Case Western reserve University maw27@case.edu

Animals that track odor plumes while suspended in air or water usually generate very different looking movement paths than those that track plumes while walking or crawling on substrate. It is possible that these differences arise from: (1) differences between the odor plume and flow conditions in the boundary layer near the substrate and the free stream above it, (2) differences in the speed of movement through the environment generated by different types of locomotion (e.g., walking vs. flying or swimming), or (3) differences in the control rules used to steer the animal’s movements. One piece of information plume tracking animals might use to steer and maintain contact with the plume is the distribution of the odor in the plume’s cross section. They could get this by simultaneously comparing the concentration of the odor between their two antennae (spatial sampling) or by comparing successive sampling points along their track (temporal sampling). We have begun testing these ideas by comparing male oriental fruit moths, Grapholita molesta, with one antenna removed (either left or right) to intact controls as they transition from tracking an odor plume in flight to landing and tracking the same plume while walking. We observed no differences between intact controls and moths with one antenna when they tracked plumes in flight, but once they landed many males with one antenna generated upwind walking tracks that looped in the same direction as their intact antenna. These results suggest that oriental fruit moth males change the way they use odor to track plumes from temporal sampling when flying to spatial sampling when walking.
This project was supported by NSF grant IOS-1121498.