Long-term sensitivity adjustment of the compound eyes of the housefly Musca domestica during early adult life

Deimel, E.; Kral, Karl

doi:10.1016/0022-1910(92)90119-x

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Corresponding light increment thresholds are smaller in dark-reared flies. These effects are still detectable three weeks after the flies are brought back to normal light conditions (104), and are compatible with the existence of a critical period.…”

Section: Plasticity In Adult Insectsmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…In houseflies, exposure to flickering light depresses the number of L2 feedback synapses relative to monocular occlusion or dark-rearing (79), and dark-rearing increases the sensitivity of the ERG (104). In Boettscherisca dark-rearing for ≥ 4 days prevents the development of pattern discrimination when flies are later exposed to normal patterns (88–89).…”

Section: Plasticity and The Time Course Of Evoked Changes In The Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brain plasticity in Diptera and Hymenoptera

Groh

Meinertzhagen

2010

Front Biosci

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To mediate different types of behaviour, nervous systems must coordinate the proper operation of their neural circuits as well as short-and long-term alterations that occur within those circuits. The latter ultimately devolve upon specific changes in neuronal structures, membrane properties and synaptic connections that are all examples of plasticity. This reorganization of the adult nervous system is shaped by internal and external influences both during development and adult maturation. In adults, behavioural experience is a major driving force of neuronal plasticity studied particularly in sensory systems. The range of adaptation depends on features that are important to a particular species, so that learning is essential for foraging in honeybees, while regenerative capacities are important in hemimetabolous insects with long appendages. Experience is usually effective during a critical period in early adult life, when neural function becomes tuned to future conditions in an insect's life. Changes occur at all levels, in synaptic circuits, neuropile volumes, and behaviour. There are many examples, and this review incorporates only a select few, mainly those from Diptera and Hymenoptera.

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Section: Plasticity In Adult Insectsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Plasticity and The Time Course Of Evoked Changes In The Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Brain plasticity in Diptera and Hymenoptera

Groh

Meinertzhagen

2010

Front Biosci

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“…Thus, it is possible that a morphological plastic change in L2 feedback synapses is the cause of the plasticity of the optomotor response seen in our studies, though different species were examined. Not only morphological changes, but also functional plastic changes have been reported in M. domestica by measuring electroretinograms, as dark rearing during the first 5 days after eclosion increases light and contrast sensitivity [39]. However, this sensitivity adjustment is not reversible and is present throughout later life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience-dependent Plasticity of the Optomotor Response in Drosophila melanogaster

et al. 2012

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Experience in early life can affect the development of the nervous system. There is now evidence that experience-dependent plasticity exists in adult insects. To uncover the molecular basis of plasticity, an invertebrate model, such as Drosophila melanogaster, is a powerful tool, as many established genetic and molecular methods can be applied. To establish a model system in which behavioral plasticity can be examined, we investigated the optomotor response, a behavior common to most sight-reliant animals, in Drosophila and found that the response could be modified by the level of light during rearing. The angle turned by the head in response to a moving stimulus was used to quantify the response. Deprivation of light increased the response to low-contrast stimuli in wild-type Drosophila at 4 days after eclosion and this plastic change did not appear in rutabaga, a known mutant defective in short-term memory. In addition, the change was transient and was markedly decreased at 6 days after eclosion. Further, we found that Dark-flies, which have been kept in constant darkness for more than 50 years, showed a higher response to low-contrast stimuli even at 6 days after eclosion compared to wild type and this characteristic was not lost in Dark-flies placed in a normal light environment for 2 generations, suggesting that this high response has a hereditary nature. Thus, our model system can be used to examine how the environment affects behaviors.

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“…Experience with different light environments has also been shown to induce visual plasticity in invertebrates by altering light sensitivity, which has been investigated on a behavioural and physiological level (Deimel and Kral 1992, Hertel 1982, Mimura 1986). Our study shows that one of the major components controlling visual sensitivity, namely the opsin genes, alter their expression also in insects in response to variations of the ambient light.…”

Section: Light Environment As Trigger For Visual Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Having conspicuous colours involves a trade-off between the benefit of successfully completing mating and reproduction, and the costs of being easily detected by rivals and predators (Endler 1991, 1992, Gross 1996. Within a species, conspicuous body colouration including colour variation as sexual signal can be restricted to one gender only, playing a key role in sexual selection and mate choice by the opposite sex (Gross 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colour vision of Ischnura heterosticta (Insecta: Odonata): Role in sexual selection, communication and visual plasticity

Huang¹

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Sensory systems are important for any life task of an animal. Vision, and colour vision in particular, is essential for visual-based insects, such as Odonata (damselflies and dragonflies), many of which display colour patterns on their bodies. Numerous behavioural studies suggest that the diverse colour patterns function as a means for intersexual, intrasexual, interspecific, or intraspecific recognition and play a role in sexual selection, particularly in ischnuran damselflies that have sexlimited polymorphism. However, to date there are no comprehensive studies linking behavioural to electrophysiological evidence to support the role of colour patterns and colour vision in mate choice in this group of insects. In my Ph.D. thesis, I investigated the function of body colouration and colour vision in sexual selection and communication of the Australian polymorphic damselfly, Ischnura heterosticta, and examined the mechanisms underlying its colour vision and colour discrimination ability.In an observational study (Chapter 2), I surveyed I. heterosticta reproductive behaviours and daily activity patterns in the field, providing the first detailed account of their colour morphs and behavioural biology. Andromorph females are blue like males, and gynomorph females have colour morphs in green, intermediate, and grey. Mating pairs, usually with gynomorphs, are formed after dawn and mating can last up to 3-4 hours. Oviposition occurs in the days after mating, and ovipositing females are subjected to aggressive male harassment, which varies with female colouration. These data provided the biological foundation regarding colour-based sexual selection in I. heterosticta investigated in the following chapters.In the next set of experiments (Chapter 3), I discovered a unique irreversible ontogenetic colour change in females of I. heterosticta: blue andromorphs are sexually immature individuals that emerge from nymphs. After 4 to 7 days, they turn into green-grey gynomorphs to signal their sexual maturity and advertise readiness to mate. Gynomorphs are the preferred mating partners, which suggests that blue andromorphs avoid unnecessary long mating during sexual immaturity through their male-mimicking colouration. This discovery provided the first indication that colour plays a key role in mate choice and that female polymorphism in I. heterosticta may be maintained via colour signals.In the next study (Chapter 4), I tested whether and how male mating preference was associated with colour cues by manipulating female body colours artificially. The outcomes strongly suggest that female body colouration is the key visual signal for mate choice in I. heterosticta. Males always preferred gynomorph females irrespective of female ratio or prior mating experience. Only under low ambient light males of I. heterosticta occasionally misidentified blue andromorphs as mating iii partners, likely as consequence of the insufficient light. This finding provided the behavioural indication that ischnuran damselflies rely on colour visio...

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Long-term sensitivity adjustment of the compound eyes of the housefly Musca domestica during early adult life

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Brain plasticity in Diptera and Hymenoptera

Brain plasticity in Diptera and Hymenoptera

Experience-dependent Plasticity of the Optomotor Response in Drosophila melanogaster

Colour vision of Ischnura heterosticta (Insecta: Odonata): Role in sexual selection, communication and visual plasticity

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