Hay meadow vibroscape and interactions within insect vibrational community

Abstract

Summary Our experiences shape our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. The natural vibrational environment (vibroscape) is hidden to human senses but is nevertheless perceived and exploited by the majority of animals. Here, we show that the vibroscape recorded on plants in a temperate hay meadow is a dynamic low-frequency world, rich in species-specific vibrational signals. The overall vibroscape composition changed throughout the season and also depended on the plant species, as well as on the spatial position of individual plants within the meadow. Within the studied community, vibrationally signaling species sharing this communication channel avoided interference primarily by partitioning vibrational space on a fine temporal scale. The vibroscape is a reliable source of information in the environment and expands our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes.

Extending the vibroscape to agroecosystems: investigating the influence of abiotic factors and monitoring insect vibrational signaling

“…Although the total measured signaling activity resulted from vibrational signals of several different insect species, a common pattern of insect activity during a summer day in a vineyard was obtained. As expected, the signaling activity increased with the number of VSTs, which however are not necessarily associable to different species but in some cases could be part of the signal repertoire of the same species ( Šturm et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Spectrogram analysis was performed with the software Raven Pro 1.5 (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA) using Fast Fourier Transform, with a 512 samples Hann window and 75% overlap. Each recording was screened, by visual and aural inspection, to characterize the vibrational signal types (VST) which were defined as different types of vibrational signals, classified according to distinct temporal and spectral characteristics ( Šturm et al, 2021 ), focusing on vibrational signals of insects ( Fig. 1 ).…”

“…A similar approach is extendable to biotremology, which studies the production, perception, and transmission of mechanical vibrations through a substrate ( Hill & Wessel, 2016 ). The study of vibroscape, which consists of recording biological, geophysical, and anthropogenic vibrations deriving from a given landscape, is a new crucial opportunity to include a substantial number of animal species that are ubiquitous and use substrate-borne vibrations ( Šturm et al, 2021 ). Unlike bioacoustics, biotremology studies currently require conspicuous and heavy equipment ( i.e., laser vibrometer and associated devices), a constant power supply and the presence of personnel on the spot during long recording sessions ( Šturm, Polajnar & Virant-Doberlet, 2019 ).…”

“…These technical issues have, in the past, made biotremology trials confined to laboratory soundproof chambers and have reduced the possibility to perform recordings outdoor and, consequently, to measure the effect of the environment on the insect vibrational behavior. However, in the last few years the availability of new tools and devices at lower costs and higher/reliable performance has allowed scientists to investigate the vibroscape in natural contexts ( Šturm, Polajnar & Virant-Doberlet, 2019 ; Šturm et al, 2021 ; Tishechkin, 2013 ). Another important limiting factor is the almost total absence of libraries of vibrational signals ( Šturm, Polajnar & Virant-Doberlet, 2019 ).…”

Is It Time for Ecotremology?

“…Vibroscape composition also shows substantial diel and seasonal changes (McNett et al, 2010;Šturm et al, 2021). To develop adequate sampling design, studies of signal transmission on different substrates within the natural habitats, including sediments in aquatic environments (Roberts and Elliott, 2017;Hawkins et al, 2021) along with a comprehensive analysis of variation in vibroscape characteristics over short distances within a single field-site and long-term 24-h recordings are vital.…”