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Deora T, Ahmed MA, Brunton BW, Daniel TL. Learning to feed in the dark: how light level influences feeding in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta. Biol Lett 2021; 17:20210320. [PMID: 34520685 PMCID: PMC8440038 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Nocturnal insects like moths are essential for pollination, providing resilience to the diurnal pollination networks. Moths use both vision and mechanosensation to locate the nectary opening in the flowers with their proboscis. However, increased light levels due to artificial light at night (ALAN) pose a serious threat to nocturnal insects. Here, we examined how light levels influence the efficacy by which the crepuscular hawkmoth Manduca sexta locates the nectary. We used three-dimensional-printed artificial flowers fitted with motion sensors in the nectary and machine vision to track the motion of hovering moths under two light levels: 0.1 lux (moonlight) and 50 lux (dawn/dusk). We found that moths in higher light conditions took significantly longer to find the nectary, even with repeated visits to the same flower. In addition to taking longer, moths in higher light conditions hovered further from the flower during feeding. Increased light levels adversely affect learning and motor control in these animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanvi Deora
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Mahad A Ahmed
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Bingni W Brunton
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Thomas L Daniel
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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2
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Maeno KO, Ould Ely S, Ould Mohamed S, Jaavar MEH, Nakamura S, Ould Babah Ebbe MA. Defence tactics cycle with diel microhabitat choice and body temperature in the desert locust,Schistocerca gregaria. Ethology 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Koutaro Ould Maeno
- Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS); Tsukuba Japan
- The Mauritanian Desert Locust Centre: Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA); Nouakchott Mauritania
- Hakubi Center for Advanced Research & Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate School of Agriculture; Kyoto University Kitashirakawa-Oiwake-cho; Kyoto Japan
| | - Sidi Ould Ely
- The Mauritanian Desert Locust Centre: Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA); Nouakchott Mauritania
- Direction of Agriculture; Ministry of Rural Development; Nouakchott Mauritania
| | - Sid’Ahmed Ould Mohamed
- The Mauritanian Desert Locust Centre: Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA); Nouakchott Mauritania
| | - Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar
- The Mauritanian Desert Locust Centre: Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA); Nouakchott Mauritania
| | - Satoshi Nakamura
- Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS); Tsukuba Japan
| | - Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah Ebbe
- The Mauritanian Desert Locust Centre: Centre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA); Nouakchott Mauritania
- Institut du Sahel (INSAH)/CILSS; Bamako Mali
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3
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Wakefield A, Stone EL, Jones G, Harris S. Light-emitting diode street lights reduce last-ditch evasive manoeuvres by moths to bat echolocation calls. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2015; 2:150291. [PMID: 26361558 PMCID: PMC4555863 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2015] [Accepted: 07/09/2015] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The light-emitting diode (LED) street light market is expanding globally, and it is important to understand how LED lights affect wildlife populations. We compared evasive flight responses of moths to bat echolocation calls experimentally under LED-lit and -unlit conditions. Significantly, fewer moths performed 'powerdive' flight manoeuvres in response to bat calls (feeding buzz sequences from Nyctalus spp.) under an LED street light than in the dark. LED street lights reduce the anti-predator behaviour of moths, shifting the balance in favour of their predators, aerial hawking bats.
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Ancillotto L, Tomassini A, Russo D. The fancy city life: Kuhl's pipistrelle, Pipistrellus kuhlii, benefits from urbanisation. WILDLIFE RESEARCH 2015. [DOI: 10.1071/wr15003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Context
Urbanisation is often regarded as a major threat to global biodiversity. Although wildlife is frequently affected by urbanisation, some species may actually benefit from it. Bats are among the commonest wild mammals in human-modified areas, and some species seem particularly well suited to exploit urban habitats where they find roosting and foraging opportunities.
Aims
We investigated habitat selection around roosts of synurbic Kuhl’s pipistrelles, Pipistrellus kuhlii, in Italy.
Methods
We measured the effects of the amount of urban habitat on bat reproductive timing and success in human-modified environments.
Key results
We found that P. kuhlii selects roosts surrounded by areas featuring urban habitats, especially those subject to urban development. Colonies in cities and suburbs advanced parturition time and produced more pups than those in rural areas. Permanent water sources and artificial lights in the surrounding habitats also seemed to favour the species reproductive success, particularly in developing urban areas.
Conclusions
Our results showed that this bat benefits from urbanisation and provided new insights on the effects of this major process on animal ecology and conservation in urban environments.
Implications
Although the ecological flexibility and positive response to urbanisation of P. kuhlii may help explain its recent range expansion, the role of climate change as a potential driver of this process has yet to be tested.
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Minnaar C, Boyles JG, Minnaar IA, Sole CL, McKechnie AE. Stacking the odds: light pollution may shift the balance in an ancient predator-prey arms race. J Appl Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Corneile Minnaar
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Mammal Research Institute; University of Pretoria; Private Bag X20 Hatfield 0028 South Africa
| | - Justin G. Boyles
- Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory; Department of Zoology; Southern Illinois University; Carbondale IL 62901 USA
| | - Ingrid A. Minnaar
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Mammal Research Institute; University of Pretoria; Private Bag X20 Hatfield 0028 South Africa
| | - Catherine L. Sole
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Mammal Research Institute; University of Pretoria; Private Bag X20 Hatfield 0028 South Africa
| | - Andrew E. McKechnie
- Department of Zoology and Entomology; Mammal Research Institute; University of Pretoria; Private Bag X20 Hatfield 0028 South Africa
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Bohmann K, Monadjem A, Lehmkuhl Noer C, Rasmussen M, Zeale MRK, Clare E, Jones G, Willerslev E, Gilbert MTP. Molecular diet analysis of two african free-tailed bats (molossidae) using high throughput sequencing. PLoS One 2011; 6:e21441. [PMID: 21731749 PMCID: PMC3120876 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 161] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2011] [Accepted: 05/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Given the diversity of prey consumed by insectivorous bats, it is difficult to discern the composition of their diet using morphological or conventional PCR-based analyses of their faeces. We demonstrate the use of a powerful alternate tool, the use of the Roche FLX sequencing platform to deep-sequence uniquely 5' tagged insect-generic barcode cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) fragments, that were PCR amplified from faecal pellets of two free-tailed bat species Chaerephon pumilus and Mops condylurus (family: Molossidae). Although the analyses were challenged by the paucity of southern African insect COI sequences in the GenBank and BOLD databases, similarity to existing collections allowed the preliminary identification of 25 prey families from six orders of insects within the diet of C. pumilus, and 24 families from seven orders within the diet of M. condylurus. Insects identified to families within the orders Lepidoptera and Diptera were widely present among the faecal samples analysed. The two families that were observed most frequently were Noctuidae and Nymphalidae (Lepidoptera). Species-level analysis of the data was accomplished using novel bioinformatics techniques for the identification of molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU). Based on these analyses, our data provide little evidence of resource partitioning between sympatric M. condylurus and C. pumilus in the Simunye region of Swaziland at the time of year when the samples were collected, although as more complete databases against which to compare the sequences are generated this may have to be re-evaluated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristine Bohmann
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ara Monadjem
- All Out Africa Research Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Swaziland, Kwaluseni, Swaziland
| | | | - Morten Rasmussen
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Matt R. K. Zeale
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth Clare
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Gareth Jones
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Eske Willerslev
- Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Clare EL, Fraser EE, Braid HE, Fenton MB, Hebert PDN. Species on the menu of a generalist predator, the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis): using a molecular approach to detect arthropod prey. Mol Ecol 2009; 18:2532-42. [PMID: 19457192 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04184.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
One of the most difficult interactions to observe in nature is the relationship between a predator and its prey. When direct observations are impossible, we rely on morphological classification of prey remains, although this is particularly challenging among generalist predators whose faeces contain mixed and degraded prey fragments. In this investigation, we used a polymerase chain reaction and sequence-based technique to identify prey fragments in the guano of the generalist insectivore, the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis), and evaluate several hypotheses about prey selection and prey defences. The interaction between bats and insects is of significant evolutionary interest because of the adaptive nature of insect hearing against echolocation. However, measuring the successes of predator tactics or particular prey defences is limited because we cannot normally identify these digested prey fragments beyond order or family. Using a molecular approach, we recovered sequences from 89% of the fragments tested, and through comparison to a reference database of sequences, we were able to identify 127 different species of prey. Our results indicate that despite the robust jaws of L. borealis, most prey taxa were softer-bodied Lepidoptera. Surprisingly, more than 60% of the prey species were tympanate, with ears thought to afford protection against these echolocating bats. Moths of the family Arctiidae, which employ multiple defensive strategies, were not detected as a significant dietary component. Our results provide an unprecedented level of detail for the study of predator-prey relationships in bats and demonstrate the advantages which molecular tools can provide in investigations of complex ecological systems and food-web relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth L Clare
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G2W1.
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Fullard JH, Ratcliffe JM, Jacobs DS. Ignoring the irrelevant: auditory tolerance of audible but innocuous sounds in the bat-detecting ears of moths. Naturwissenschaften 2007; 95:241-5. [PMID: 18038121 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-007-0323-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2007] [Revised: 09/25/2007] [Accepted: 10/20/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Noctuid moths listen for the echolocation calls of hunting bats and respond to these predator cues with evasive flight. The African bollworm moth, Helicoverpa armigera, feeds at flowers near intensely singing cicadas, Platypleura capensis, yet does not avoid them. We determined that the moth can hear the cicada by observing that both of its auditory receptors (A1 and A2 cells) respond to the cicada's song. The firing response of the A1 cell rapidly adapts to the song and develops spike periods in less than a second that are in excess of those reported to elicit avoidance flight to bats in earlier studies. The possibility also exists that for at least part of the day, sensory input in the form of olfaction or vision overrides the moth's auditory responses. While auditory tolerance appears to allow H. armigera to exploit a food resource in close proximity to acoustic interference, it may render their hearing defence ineffective and make them vulnerable to predation by bats during the evening when cicadas continue to sing. Our study describes the first field observation of an eared insect ignoring audible but innocuous sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- James H Fullard
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
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St. Juliana JR, Fenton BM, Korine C, Pinshow B, Wojciechowski M, Kravchenko V. Note: A Field Assessment of the Defensive Responses of Moths to an Auditory Stimulus. Isr J Ecol Evol 2007. [DOI: 10.1560/ijee.53.2.173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
We examined the responses of moths to an auditory stimulus in the field with respect to moth size, moth activity state (at rest or flying), whether it responded, and response type. Moths most commonly responded by changing flight direction. Flying moths responded significantly more often to the auditory stimulus than did resting moths; small- and medium-sized moths responded significantly more often than larger ones. We found no differences in use of response types between size classes. We suggest that these behavioral responses to the auditory stimulus are likely due to evolved induced responses to detection of predatory bats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin R. St. Juliana
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- Department of Ecology and Organismal Biology, Indiana State University
| | - Brock M. Fenton
- Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London
| | - Carmi Korine
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Berry Pinshow
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Michal Wojciechowski
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
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Haupt M, Menzler S, Schmidt S. FLEXIBILITY OF HABITAT USE IN EPTESICUS NILSSONII: DOES THE SPECIES PROFIT FROM ANTHROPOGENICALLY ALTERED HABITATS? J Mammal 2006. [DOI: 10.1644/05-mamm-a-193r1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
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