Lobster Orientation in Turbulent Odor Plumes: Simultaneous Measurement of Tracking Behavior and Temporal Odor Patterns

Basil, Jennifer A.; Atema, Jelle

doi:10.1086/bblv187n2p272

Cited by 60 publications

(43 citation statements)

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“…Upcurrent movement in response to odor is a common behavior in the repertoire of marine creatures (Weissburg 1997(Weissburg , 2000, and this mechanism, often referred to as odor-gated rheotaxis, has been hypothesized to occur in crustaceans Zimmer-Faust 1993, 1994;Zimmer-Faust et al 1995). Although sequential sampling may not be informative, simultaneous spatial sampling can allow animals to resolve their spanwise position in the plume (Webster et al 2001) and has been suggested as an important element in olfactory navigation (Basil and Atema 1994;Zimmer-Faust et al 1995). Odor-gated rheotaxis in combination with spatial sampling may be sufficient to explain the impressive abilities of marine crustaceans without the need to invoke measurement of other odor properties that we find convey little information.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosensory guidance cues in a turbulent chemical odor plume

Webster

Weissburg

2001

Limnology & Oceanography

149

165

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The characteristics of chemical odor plumes released into a turbulent open channel flow are evaluated in the context of chemical plume tracking. The objective is to assess the availability and usefulness of chemosensory cues to animals, such as benthic crustaceans, attempting to orient in the plume. Releasing fluorescent dye into the fully developed turbulent boundary layer of a large laboratory-scale flume created turbulent odor plumes. Flow visualization of odor fields created with varying release velocity, release distance from the bed, and nozzle diameter indicated that chemosensory cues in plumes depend on the release characteristics as well as the ambient flow conditions. Thus, to understand animal behavior, it is important to quantify the plume release properties and characteristics. We chose to quantify concentration fields for the case of isokinetic release using the planar laser-induced fluorescence technique. These measurements indicate that the time-averaged concentration converges far too slowly to be useful to a foraging animal. Similarly, resolving the rise slope of a concentration burst requires sampling rates unattainable by animals, and the spatial variation of rise slope is too mild to follow without lengthy sampling periods. In addition, only mild variation with distance from the source is observed in the concentration burst magnitude and duration. Thus, the time-averaged concentration, rise slope, and burst shape all appear to have limited usefulness for plume orientation for animals known to orient effectively to these types of odor sources.Sensory systems in organisms translate spatial and temporal patterns of physical properties into electrical signals that mediate animal responses. Light, sound, pressure, and chemical concentration, among others, are stimuli that are used by animals to collect information on their external world, and which evoke various behaviors necessary for survival. Understanding the operation of perceptual systems provides information on ecological interactions mediated by various sensory modalities, as well as on basic neurological mechanisms of encoding and processing information.A fundamental tenet in the analysis of sensory systems is that they are not fully interpretable until the appropriate sensory environment is characterized or defined. In other words, unless the nature of the input to a sensory system is known, the details and functions of its operation will be obscured. For instance, the elegant construction of the eyes of some insects allows them to use polarized light as a navigational aid. This design is contingent on the orientation of regions of the eye corresponding to the orientation of the e-vector of polarized light emanating from the sector of the sky scanned by each region. Thus, the map of the eye cannot be appreciated unless one has similarly obtained a map of the sky (Wehner 1989).The physical cues used by many sensory modalities offer convenient dimensions for characterization of stimulus patterns, even in the spatial or temporal do...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosensory guidance cues in a turbulent chemical odor plume

Webster

Weissburg

2001

Limnology & Oceanography

149

165

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“…T he ability of animals to track odour trails is well known but sparingly studied [1][2][3][4][5][6] . Fundamental issues regarding the behavioural and neural mechanisms of this ethologically important behaviour remain poorly understood.…”

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Rats track odour trails accurately using a multi-layered strategy with near-optimal sampling

2012

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Tracking odour trails is a crucial behaviour for many animals, often leading to food, mates or away from danger. It is an excellent example of active sampling, where the animal itself controls how to sense the environment. Here we show that rats can track odour trails accurately with near-optimal sampling. We trained rats to follow odour trails drawn on paper spooled through a treadmill. By recording local field potentials (LFPs) from the olfactory bulb, and sniffing rates, we find that sniffing but not LFPs differ between tracking and non-tracking conditions. Rats can track odours within ~1 cm, and this accuracy is degraded when one nostril is closed. moreover, they show path prediction on encountering a fork, wide 'casting' sweeps on encountering a gap and detection of reappearance of the trail in 1-2 sniffs. We suggest that rats use a multi-layered strategy, and achieve efficient sampling and high accuracy in this complex task.

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“…Electrodes or other sensors can be connected to tracking organisms either externally or internally (e.g., Basil and Atema 1994). Leonard et al (1994) implanted electrodes capable of detecting odorant concentrations at the tips of the antennules of lobsters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional odorant concentration measurements around actively tracking blue crabs

Dickman

Webster

Page

et al. 2009

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) and other aquatic organisms locate food and mates by tracking turbulent odorant plumes. The odorant concentration fluctuates unpredictably due to turbulent transport, and many characteristics of the fluctuation pattern have been hypothesized as useful cues for orienting to the odorant source. To make a direct linkage between tracking behavior and odorant signal properties, we developed a laserinduced fluorescence measurement system to quantify the instantaneous three‐dimensional (3D) concentration field surrounding actively tracking blue crabs. The data suggest a connection between upstream walking speed and bursts of odorant concentration arriving at the antennule chemosensors, which are located near the mouth region. Specifically, we note rapid upstream walking speed when high concentration bursts arrive at the antennules location and a decrease in upstream walking speed in the absence of odorant filaments near the antennules. Additionally, we note transverse crab movements in apparent response to the transverse distribution of the odorant concentration field. Specifically, asymmetry of the odorant concentration distribution at the elevation of the leg chemosensors is associated with subsequent crab position adjustments in the transverse direction. The methods described here allow for powerful and direct tests of chemosensory navigation strategies in blue crabs, as well as other macroscopic aquatic animals.

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Lobster Orientation in Turbulent Odor Plumes: Simultaneous Measurement of Tracking Behavior and Temporal Odor Patterns

Cited by 60 publications

References 0 publications

Chemosensory guidance cues in a turbulent chemical odor plume

Chemosensory guidance cues in a turbulent chemical odor plume

Rats track odour trails accurately using a multi-layered strategy with near-optimal sampling

Three‐dimensional odorant concentration measurements around actively tracking blue crabs

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