Ultrasound avoidance
Ultrasound avoidance is an escape or avoidance reflex displayed by certain animal species that are preyed upon by
Although ultrasonic signals are used for echolocation by toothed whales, no known examples of ultrasonic avoidance in their prey have been found to date.[2]
Ultrasonic hearing has evolved multiple times in insects: a total of 19 times. Bats appeared in the
Ultrasound avoidance in moths
The idea that moths were able to hear the cries of echolocating bats dates back to the late 19th century. F. Buchanan White, in an 1877 letter to Nature
Later research showed that moths responded to ultrasound with evasive movements.
It was found that the moths' responses vary according to ultrasound intensity, diving towards the ground if the pulse was of a high amplitude, or flying directly away from the sound source if the sound amplitude was low (if the sound was softer). Acoustic
The moth's body axis allows it to be more sensitive to sounds coming from particular directions. Their ears, on either side of the metathorax, have two sensory cells within the membranes. Though the tuning curves of these cells are identical, the sensitivity thresholds differ, allowing for sound localization and a wider range of sensitivity to sound.[3] The movement of the wings during flight also plays a role, since sound thresholds change with wing position. The neural mechanisms for triggering the acoustic startle response are partially understood. However, there is little known about the motor control of flight that ultrasound initiates.[7]
Further research has shown that many species of moths are sensitive to ultrasound. Sensitivities for ultrasound change according to the environment the moth thrives in, and the moth can even change its own sensitivity if it is preyed upon by bats with different echolocating calls. Such is the case of the Australian noctuid moth, Speiredonia spectans, which adapts its acoustic sensitivity according to the characteristics of the call of the bat inside the cave with them.[8]
Ultrasound avoidance in crickets
Crickets are preyed on by bats during the night while they fly from one place to another. Avoidance behaviors by crickets were first reported in 1977 by A. V. Popov and V. F. Shuvalov.
As opposed to moths, the cricket ear, located in the foreleg, is complex - having 70 receptors that are arranged in a
All these receptors synapse on a far lower number of interneurons that relay the receptors' information to the cricket's central nervous system. In the Teleogryllus cricket, two ascending interneurons carry information to the brain - one carries information about cricket song (around 5 kHz) while the other gets excited at ultrasound and other high frequencies (15–100 kHz).[7] The ultrasound-sensitive interneuron - labeled INT-1 - has been demonstrated as both necessary and sufficient for negative phonotaxis by Nolen and Hoy in 1984:[12]
Stimulating int-1 by current injection is sufficient to initiate negative phonotaxis, while hyperpolarizing int-1 effectively cancels the turning response to ultrasound. Due to this, int-1 has been proposed to be a command neuron of sorts; in the cricket, int-1 is a bat detector when the cricket is in flight and the interneuron's activity reaches a specific threshold. If these conditions are met, the magnitude of the sound is linearly proportional to the magnitude of the avoidance response.[12] This research also demonstrated that the brain is necessary for the response, since decapitated crickets will fly, but show no avoidance response behaviors.
Bats may have found ways to get around this system. In the Teleogryllus oceanicus cricket, its broad sensitivity can be circumvented by the use of frequency-mismatched calls[citation needed] by part of bats like the gleaning bat, Nyctophilus geoffroyi.[11] Furthermore, it has been found that the ultrasound avoidance response is restricted to when the crickets are in flight: that is, the response is extinguished when the crickets are on the ground.[13]
It has also been shown that short-winged crickets are less sensitive to ultrasound, but not to low frequencies, than their long-winged counterparts in a wing-dimorphic cricket, Grillus texensis.[14] A hormone, named juvenile hormone (JH), is believed to play a role in whether the individual develops shorter or longer wings: if the individual has a higher level of JH, its wings will be shorter.
Ultrasound avoidance in other insects
In praying mantises, ultrasound avoidance behaviors are non-directional turns or power dives that are very effective in preventing capture by bats.[15][16] The mantis ear, located in the midline between the metathoracic (third) legs, comprises two tympana within an auditory chamber that enhances sensitivity.[17] A bilaterally symmetrical pair of auditory interneurons, 501-T3, accurately track the ultrasonic calls during the early stages of a bat attack. Because 501-T3 stops firing just before the evasive response starts, it may be involved in triggering the behavior.[18][19] The praying mantis ear first appeared c. 120 million years ago, predating the appearance of echolocating bats by c. 50 million years, so its original function must be different from its current one.[20]
Arctiid moths use a very different, but highly effective defense against bats.[21] They produce loud ultrasonic clicks in response to ultrasound. Depending on the species of moth and its ecology, the clicks may work by startling the bat, by jamming its echolocation system, or by warning of distastefulness (aposematism).
Green lacewings (Chrysopidae) have sensitive ears on their wings. Ultrasound causes flying lacewings to fold their wings and drop, an effective maneuver for evading capture by bats.[22] Some tettigoniids use a similar strategy,[23] although other species respond much like crickets.[24]
Several other insects have sensitive ultrasonic hearing that probably is used in bat evasion, but direct evidence is not yet available. These include scarab beetles,[25] tiger beetles[26] and a parasitoid fly (Ormia sp.)[27]
References
- PMID 11171355.
- PMID 17412672.
- ^ .
- ^ White's reference can be found in the following link: [1]. His question is close to the ending of the letter.
- PMID 5922736.
- PMID 1194872.
- ^ PMID 2689567.
- S2CID 566358.
- S2CID 20410596.
- S2CID 35880694.
- ^ S2CID 24223092.
- ^ PMID 6505681.
- S2CID 27518636.
- PMID 18938172.
- PMID 2230635.
- PMID 18245632.
- S2CID 37360392.
- PMID 11854368.
- PMID 15879067.
- ^ Yager, D. D. & Svenson, G. J. (2008). "A phylogeny of mantis auditory systems based on morphological, molecular, physiological, and behavioral data". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 94: 541-568.
- ^ Conner, W. E. & Corcoran, A. J. (2012). "Sound strategies: the 65-million-year-old battle between bats and insects". Annual Review of Entomology. 57: 21-39
- ^ Miller, L. A. (1984). "Hearing in green lacewings and their responses to the cries of bats". In: Canard, M.; Séméria, Y.; New, T. R., editors. Biology of Chrysopidae. The Hague: Dr W. Junk Publishers, p 134-149
- ^ Libersat, F. & Hoy, R. R. (1991). "Ultrasonic startle behavior in bushcrickets Orthoptera; Tettigoniidae". Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 169: 507-514.
- PMID 11171355.
- PMID 8576685.
- PMID 9057313.
- ^ Robert, D. & Hoy, R. R. (1998). "The evolutionary innovation of tympanal hearing in Diptera". In: Hoy, R. R.; Popper, A. N. & Fay, R. R., editors. Comparative Hearing: Insects. Heidelberg and New York: Springer-Verlag. p 197-227
- Boyan, G. S. & Miller, L. A. (1991). "Parallel processing of afferent input by identified interneurones in the auditory pathway of the noctuid moth Noctua pronuba (L.)". Journal of Comparative Physiology A. 168 (6): 727–38. S2CID 25041932.