Diet-specific chemical cues influence association preferences and prey patch use in a shoaling fish

2008 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Webster ◽  
E.L. Adams ◽  
K.N. Laland
Author(s):  
Garima Sharma ◽  
Praful Ashokrao Malthankar ◽  
Vartika Mathur

Abstract During herbivory, insects recognize their host plant based on specific chemical cues, whereas the plants induce various chemical and morphological defense responses to resist this attack. However, the seemingly bidirectional insect–plant interaction involves various confounding aspects that influence the performance and fitness of the two participants. These interactions are often mediated by associated microbiota, competitors, predators, and parasitoids that interact in either obligate or facultative manner. Insect endosymbionts play a crucial role in the perception, nutrition, metabolism as well as reproduction of their host, which together determine its survival and fitness on the plant. Endosymbionts also help their host to overcome plant defenses by detoxifying plant metabolites. On the contrary, plant-associated microbes contribute in induced systemic plant resistance by enhancing chemical and morphological defense. These interactions determine the association of insect and plant, not only with the high trophic levels but also with the ecosystem as a whole. Thus, insect–plant interaction is a multilayered relationship extending to various micro- and macro-organisms associated either temporally or spatially. All these relationships may be considered to obtain a wholesome perspective of the natural environment.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W Martin

Vegetated habitats provide numerous benefits to nekton, including structural refuge from predators and food sources. However, the sensory mechanisms by which fishes locate these habitats remain unclear for many species, especially when environmental conditions (such as increased turbidity) are unfavorable for visual identification of habitats. Here, a series of laboratory experiments test whether three species of adult fish (golden topminnow Fundulus chrysotus Günther 1866, sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna Lesueur 1821, and western mosquitofish Gambusia affinis Baird and Girard 1853) use plant chemical cues to orient to one of two habitats (hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle or water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms). First, experiments in aquaria were conducted offering fish a choice of the two habitats to determine preference patterns. Next, a two-channel flume, with each side containing flow originating in one of the two habitats, was used to determine if preferences were still exhibited when fish could only detect habitats through olfactory means. While patterns among the three fish species tested here were variable, results did indicate consistent habitat preferences despite the lack of cues other than olfactory, suggesting that these organisms are capable of discriminating habitats via chemical exudates from plants. As such, olfactory mechanisms likely provide vital information about the surrounding environment and future work should be directed at determining how anthropogenic inputs such as eutrophication and sediment runoff affect the physiology of these sensory capabilities.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2472
Author(s):  
Chiara Emma Campiglio ◽  
Selene Ponzini ◽  
Paola De Stefano ◽  
Giulia Ortoleva ◽  
Lorenzo Vignati ◽  
...  

Opportunely arranged micro/nano-scaled fibers represent an extremely attractive architecture for tissue engineering, as they offer an intrinsically porous structure, a high available surface, and an ideal microtopography for guiding cell migration. When fibers are made with naturally occurring polymers, matrices that closely mimic the architecture of the native extra-cellular matrix and offer specific chemical cues can be obtained. Along this track, electrospinning of collagen or gelatin is a typical and effective combination to easily prepare fibrous scaffolds with excellent properties in terms of biocompatibility and biomimicry, but an appropriate cross-linking strategy is required. Many common protocols involve the use of swelling solvents and can result in significant impairment of fibrous morphology and porosity. As a consequence, the efforts for processing gelatin into a fiber network can be vain, as a film-like morphology will be eventually presented to cells. However, this appears to be a frequently overlooked aspect. Here, the effect on fiber morphology of common cross-linking protocols was analyzed, and different strategies to improve the final morphology were evaluated (including alternative solvents, cross-linker concentration, mechanical constraint, and evaporation conditions). Finally, an optimized, fiber-preserving protocol based on carbodiimide (EDC) chemistry was defined.


Behaviour ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 144 (10) ◽  
pp. 1147-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Parzefall ◽  
Rüdiger Riesch ◽  
Ingo Schlupp ◽  
Martin Plath

AbstractPrevious studies revealed that females of a cave form of the livebearing fish Poecilia mexicana (cave molly) have maintained the ancestral visual preference for large males, but — as an adaptation to life in darkness — they have evolved the novel capability to assess male size non-visually. Here we examined the mechanisms by which non-visual mate choice for large body size occurs. Are sex- and species-specific chemical cues involved in this preference for large conspecifics? We gave focal females an opportunity to associate with a large and a small stimulus fish in simultaneous choice tests, whereby the females could perceive either multiple cues (visual plus non-visual) from the stimulus fish, solely non-visual cues in darkness, or solely visual cues. Stimulus fish were two conspecific males, conspecific females, or heterospecific females (Xiphophorus hellerii). Cave molly females showed a significant preference for large conspecific males and for large conspecific females in all treatments. When a large and a small swordtail female were presented, cave molly females showed a preference for the larger fish only when exclusively visual cues from the stimulus fish were available. The non-visual preference for large body size appears to be mediated by species- but not by sex-specific cues, suggesting that species-specific chemical cues play an important role during mate choice.


2009 ◽  
Vol 277 (1680) ◽  
pp. 407-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalina Estrada ◽  
Selma Yildizhan ◽  
Stefan Schulz ◽  
Lawrence E. Gilbert

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 20210260
Author(s):  
Katharina Weiss ◽  
Jutta M. Schneider

Kin recognition, the ability to detect relatives, is important for cooperation, altruism and also inbreeding avoidance. A large body of research on kin recognition mechanisms exists for vertebrates and insects, while little is known for other arthropod taxa. In spiders, nepotism has been reported in social and solitary species. However, there are very few examples of kin discrimination in a mating context, one coming from the orb-weaver Argiope bruennichi . Owing to effective mating plugs and high rates of sexual cannibalism, both sexes of A. bruennichi are limited to a maximum of two copulations. Males surviving their first copulation can either re-mate with the current female (monopolizing paternity) or leave and search for another. Mating experiments have shown that males readily mate with sisters but are more likely to leave after one short copulation as compared with unrelated females, allowing them to search for another mate. Here, we ask whether the observed behaviour is based on chemical cues. We detected family-specific cuticular profiles that qualify as kin recognition cues. Moreover, correlations in the relative amounts of some of the detected substances between sexes within families indicate that kin recognition is likely based on subsets of cuticular substances, rather than entire profiles.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1784) ◽  
pp. 20140043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Farine ◽  
Jérôme Cortot ◽  
Jean-François Ferveur

Insects use chemosensory cues to feed and mate. In Drosophila , the effect of pheromones has been extensively investigated in adults, but rarely in larvae. The colonization of natural food sources by Drosophila buzzatii and Drosophila simulans species may depend on species-specific chemical cues left in the food by larvae and adults. We identified such chemicals in both species and measured their influence on larval food preference and puparation behaviour. We also tested compounds that varied between these species: (i) two larval volatile compounds: hydroxy-3-butanone-2 and phenol (predominant in D. simulans and D. buzzatii , respectively), and (ii) adult cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs). Drosophila buzzatii larvae were rapidly attracted to non-CH adult conspecific cues, whereas D. simulans larvae were strongly repulsed by CHs of the two species and also by phenol. Larval cues from both species generally reduced larval attraction and pupariation on food, which was generally—but not always—low, and rarely reflected larval response. As these larval and adult pheromones specifically influence larval food search and the choice of a pupariation site, they may greatly affect the dispersion and survival of Drosophila species in nature.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Chase

Afferent activity of the rhinophore nerve in Aplysia californica was recorded using the sucrose gap technique. Spikes were counted during perfusion of the rhinophore with plain seawater, and during perfusion with seawater that had bathed specimens of either Aplysia californica, Aplysia vaccaria, or Pleurobranchaea californica. Each of the experimental perfusions evoked an approximately equal increase in activity. The results fail to support the hypothesis, derived from earlier electrophysiological experiments, that aggregations of Aplysia in the field are determined by species-specific chemical cues.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles W Martin

Vegetated habitats provide numerous benefits to nekton, including structural refuge from predators and food sources. However, the sensory mechanisms by which fishes locate these habitats remain unclear for many species, especially when environmental conditions (such as increased turbidity) are unfavorable for visual identification of habitats. Here, a series of laboratory experiments test whether three species of adult fish (golden topminnow Fundulus chrysotus Günther 1866, sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna Lesueur 1821, and western mosquitofish Gambusia affinis Baird and Girard 1853) use plant chemical cues to orient to one of two habitats (hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle or water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms). First, experiments in aquaria were conducted offering fish a choice of the two habitats to determine preference patterns. Next, a two-channel flume, with each side containing flow originating in one of the two habitats, was used to determine if preferences were still exhibited when fish could only detect habitats through olfactory means. While patterns among the three fish species tested here were variable, results did indicate consistent habitat preferences despite the lack of cues other than olfactory, suggesting that these organisms are capable of discriminating habitats via chemical exudates from plants. As such, olfactory mechanisms likely provide vital information about the surrounding environment and future work should be directed at determining how anthropogenic inputs such as eutrophication and sediment runoff affect the physiology of these sensory capabilities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-157
Author(s):  
Takashi Haramura

Pheromonal communication may be possible to control the invader animal. Pheromone-induced behavioural changes could be exploited to control invasive species such as the cane toad (Rhinella marina). Injured cane toad tadpoles are known to produce species-specific chemical cues that alert conspecific tadpoles to danger. These chemical cues reduce both the survival rate of other tadpoles and body size at metamorphosis, and suggest that cane toad tadpoles express chemical substances that control the behaviour of other tadpoles. Identification of the chemical substance(s) involving in tadpole could lead to the development of methods to control the behaviour of cane toad. Here, the behaviour of cane toad adults and tadpoles was characterized following exposure to chemical substances extracted from dead cane toad tadpoles using methanol (MeOH) or distilled water (H2O). Adult toads showed signs of avoiding water to which the H2O-extracted chemical cue had been added. By contrast, no differences were observed in the swimming behaviour of tadpoles (control, MeOHor H2O-extracted samples). These data indicate that development of a chemicalbased behaviour control method will require more detailed chemical analyses. We used dead tadpoles to extract chemical substrate, but in future studies, the potential behaviour-controlling chemical cues should be extracted from live cane toad tadpoles.Bangladesh J. Zool. 45(2): 149-157, 2017


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