Eavesdropping on Insects Hidden in Soil and Interior Structures of Plants

Mankin, Richard W.; Brandhorst-Hubbard, Jamee L.; Flanders, Kathy L.; Zhang, M.; Crocker, Robert; Lapointe, Stephen L.; McCoy, C. W.; Fisher, James R.; Weaver, David K.

doi:10.1603/0022-0493-93.4.1173

Cited by 86 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…These insects are known to locate their hosts by detecting vibration caused by host movement (Glas and Vet 1983;van Dijken and van Alphen 1998), chemical stimuli in larval frass (van Leerdam et al 1985;Ngi-Song and Overholt 1997;Mattiacci et al 1999), or host-marking pheromones (Hoffmeister and Gienapp 1999). Second, although such vibration signals and semiochemicals are used as host location cues above-ground, they may be effective only within a short range of the source, because vibration is easily damped and semiochemicals do not diffuse far in a complex medium such as soil (Mankin et al 2000;Johnson and Gregory 2006). Below-ground parasitoids therefore face more difficulties than above-ground parasitoids when seeking concealed hosts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below-ground host location by Campsomeriella annulata (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae), a parasitoid of scarabaeid grubs

Inoue

Endo

2007

J Ethol

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Scoliid wasps are ectoparasitoids that attack soil-dwelling scarabaeid larvae, and little is known about their host-searching behavior. In this study we investigated the cues used in host location by Campsomeriella annulata (Fabricius) and examined whether or not these wasps can detect hosts in the soil from the surface. In a dual-choice test with a Y-tube, female wasps were attracted to sand with host odor, sand with host feces, and sand used for rearing the host, the larvae of Anomala rufocuprea Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). In a dual-choice test for cues presented at a distance, the wasps did not discriminate between the Y-tube arms with and without cues. In an experimental arena in which host products and a host grub were buried 0.5 cm below the surface the wasps did not respond to the cues from the surface in terms of the burrowing frequencies and antennal tapping rates. Our results indicate that C. annulata searches for the host grubs by using kairomones, residual cuticular substances, or feces deposited in the soil as the grubs move through it, and that wasps cannot perceive the host in the soil from the surface. We discuss how scoliid wasps search for soil-dwelling hosts using cues that are reliable but not highly detectable.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Below-ground host location by Campsomeriella annulata (Hymenoptera: Scoliidae), a parasitoid of scarabaeid grubs

Inoue

Endo

2007

J Ethol

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“…Alternatively, it is possible that subterranean termites may be less attuned to vibration cues and signals than drywood termites because of the medium in which they live and nest. Soil has a much larger coefficient of attenuation than wood (Liu & Nagel 1993), so the detection range of acoustic emissions in soil can be low, as little as 5 cm (Mankin et al 2000). If so, then drywood termites can exploit the same food resources as subterranean termites by being even more cryptic than subterranean species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Termites eavesdrop to avoid competitors

et al. 2009

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Competition exclusion, when a single species dominates resources due to superior competitiveness, is seldom observed in nature. Termites compete for resources with deadly consequences, yet more than one species can be found feeding in the same wooden resource. This is especially surprising when drywood species, with colonies of a few hundred, are found cohabiting with subterranean species, with colonies of millions. Termites communicate vibro-acoustically and, as these signals can travel over long distances, they are vulnerable to eavesdropping. We investigated whether drywood termites could eavesdrop on vibration cues from subterranean species. We show, using choice experiments and recordings, that the drywood termite Cryptotermes secundus can distinguish its own species from the dominant competitor in the environment, the subterranean termite Coptotermes acinaciformis. The drywood termite was attracted to its own vibration cues, but was repelled by those of the subterranean species. This response increased with decreasing wood size, corresponding with both increased risk and strength of the cue. The drywood termites appear to avoid confrontation by eavesdropping on the subterranean termites; these results provide further evidence that vibro-acoustic cues are important for termite sensory perception and communication.

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“…A subroutine in the DAVIS program placed the peak of each click (e.g., Fig. 1b) at the center of a 512-point (20.48 ms) window, applied a Hamming filter, and calculated a discrete Fourier-transform power spectrum (Mankin et al, 2000a). Spectral averages of multiple clicks were constructed by averaging spectrum levels of all clicks at each discrete reference frequency (e.g., Embree and Kimble, 1991).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%