Regulation of a Meal: Chewing Insects

Simpson, Stephen J.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1775-7_5

Cited by 48 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…For instance, after locusts consumed the larger reward, they may have been more satiated and thus less motivated to seek food upon entering the arms containing the smaller rewards. Locusts are known to exhibit quiescence following a large meal (see Simpson, 1995), but in our study the larger rewards were in fact small relative to meal size during ad libitum feeding, so we feel a 'satiated' effect is unlikely. Another possibility is that time delays to the rewards may have influenced latencies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Variable rewards and discrimination ability in an insect herbivore: what and how does a hungry locust learn?

Behmer

Belt

Shapiro

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY With the exception of honeybees, there have been few good invertebrate models for associative learning. Grasshoppers and locusts (Orthoptera:Acrididae) possess a number of characteristics that make them excellent candidates for such studies, and in this paper we present a novel protocol,based on a Y-maze, that is specifically designed for studying their learning and choice behaviour. Three separate experiments were conducted using individual gregarious forms of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. In our first experiment, coloured arms of a two-sided Y-maze provided a large or small amount of wheat for nine choice-trials. In the second experiment, locusts discriminated odours with wheat rewards for nine choice-trials. The odour-wheat reward combinations were then reversed for an additional nine choice-trials. For the third experiment, the locusts again discriminated odours, but here we used artificial foods and the rewards differed in their concentration of protein and digestible carbohydrate. The results indicate that, in addition to showing good acquisition of choice performance, the locusts also took less time to reach the larger-rewarded option. The data indicate that our protocol is highly sensitive for recording choice behaviour in acridids and reveals the potential they have for advancing our current understanding of associative learning and the field of learning in general.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Variable rewards and discrimination ability in an insect herbivore: what and how does a hungry locust learn?

Behmer

Belt

Shapiro

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…All just-fed Z. bicolorata (except for two individuals) tested within 15 min of feeding on ragweed were unresponsive to both host plants. This is a typical response from post-prandial insects (Simpson, 1995). These satiated beetles either rested on the underside of a leaf, walked actively about the plant, or left the plant in less than 12 min.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Without knowledge of the time since the last ingested meal, the nutritional quality of that ingested meal, and the mean inter-meal interval (Simpson, 1995) insects placed into feeding assays will differ vastly from each other in time-dependent internal state. When the acceptability of various plants as food or oviposition sites is being examined, such insects will also differ in their relative responses to the plants, with differences in acceptability greatest when insects are in the discrim-ination phase and smallest when insects are in the post-discrimination phase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the hierarchy threshold model in a no‐choice feeding assay

Withers¹

1999

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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The hierarchy threshold model of individual insect diet predicts the acceptance or rejection of individual hosts when encountered by insects. One assumption of the hierarchy threshold model is that 'post-discrimination phase' insects which accept lower ranked hosts will also accept hosts that are ranked higher. This assumption does not however suggest whether or not such insects behave differently when encountering these two hosts. This question is explored using Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Adult beetles that had just fed, or were one inter-meal interval after feeding, or were deprived for three or six days after feeding, were individually observed on a plant that either ranked high, Parthenium hysterophorus L., or low Xanthium occidentale Bertol. (Heliantheae: Ambrosiinae) in choice tests. Just-fed beetles were generally unresponsive to either host plant and did not feed. Beetles held for one inter-meal interval showed more feeding responses (shorter lag time between sampling and feeding, higher proportions of individuals feeding, and more time feeding) towards the higher ranked plant. As the beetles approached six days deprivation, behaviours of sampling, feeding and locomotion differed less between the two plants, but were still apparent. I conclude that food deprived Z. bicolorata beetles do still discriminate between the two plants. This result partially supports the hierarchy threshold model.

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“…Parameter values and behaviour functions were based on empirical measurements, either from this study or previous ones (Roessingh et al 1993;Simpson 1995;Despland 2001) The computer simulation used a bounded 70!70 twodimensional arena with food patches distributed according to the same patterns as in the experiment. Time was divided into 120 iterations (representing 4 min intervals), so that rate values measured in the experiment could be used.…”

Section: (B) Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In locusts, initiation of activity depends on an irregular oscillation in feeding excitation (sensu Simpson 1995). The probability of activity rises with time since the last meal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource distribution mediates synchronization of physiological rhythms in locust groups

Despland

Simpson

2006

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Synchronized behaviour is common in animal groups. In ant colonies, synchronization occurs because active ants stimulate their neighbours to activity. We use oscillator theory to explain how stimulation from active neighbours synchronizes activity in groups of solitarious locusts via entrainment of internal physiological rhythms. We also show that the spatial distribution of food resources controls coupling between individual locusts and the emergence of synchronized activity. In locusts (Schistocerca gregaria), individual schedules of activity and quiescence arise from an irregular physiological oscillation in feeding excitation (i.e. hunger). We show that contact with an active neighbour increases the probability that a locust becomes active. This entrained activity decreases the time until the locust feeds, shifting the phase of its hunger oscillation. The locusts' internal physiological rhythms are thus brought into alignment and their activity becomes synchronized. When food resources are clumped, contact with active locusts increases, and this increase in the strength of coupling between individuals leads to greater synchronization of behaviour. Activity synchronization might have functional significance in inhibiting swarming when resources are dispersed and accelerating it in more favourable clumped environments.

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Regulation of a Meal: Chewing Insects

Cited by 48 publications

References 78 publications

Variable rewards and discrimination ability in an insect herbivore: what and how does a hungry locust learn?

Variable rewards and discrimination ability in an insect herbivore: what and how does a hungry locust learn?

Examining the hierarchy threshold model in a no‐choice feeding assay

Resource distribution mediates synchronization of physiological rhythms in locust groups

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