@article {57342, title = {Substrate vibrations mediate behavioral responses via femoral chordotonal organs in a cerambycid beetle}, journal = {Zoological Letters}, volume = {2}, year = {2016}, month = {Jan-12-2016}, abstract = {

Background
Vibrational senses are vital for plant-dwelling animals because vibrations transmitted through plants allow them to detect approaching predators or conspecifics. Little is known, however, about how coleopteran insects detect vibrations.

Results
We investigated vibrational responses of the Japanese pine sawyer beetle, Monochamus alternatus, and its putative sense organs. This beetle showed startle responses, stridulation, freezing, and walking in response to vibrations below 1 kHz, indicating that they are able to detect low-frequency vibrations. For the first time in a coleopteran species, we have identified the sense organ involved in the freezing behavior. The femoral chordotonal organ (FCO), located in the mid-femur, contained 60\–70 sensory neurons and was distally attached to the proximal tibia via a cuticular apodeme. Beetles with operated FCOs did not freeze in response to low-frequency vibrations during walking, whereas intact beetles did. These results indicate that the FCO is responsible for detecting low-frequency vibrations and mediating the behavioral responses. We discuss the behavioral significance of vibrational responses and physiological functions of FCOs in M. alternatus.

Conclusions
Our findings revealed that substrate vibrations mediate behavioral responses via femoral chordotonal organs in M. alternatus.

}, keywords = {Behavior, Coleoptera, Sense organ, vibration}, doi = {10.1186/s40851-016-0053-4}, url = {http://zoologicalletters.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40851-016-0053-4}, author = {Takanashi, Takuma and Fukaya, Midori and Nakamuta, Kiyoshi and Skals, Niels and Nishino, Hiroshi} } @article {50483, title = {Biotremology: Do physical constraints limit the propagation of vibrational information?}, journal = {Animal Behaviour}, volume = {130}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-08-2017}, pages = {165 - 174}, abstract = {

Vibrations are a ubiquitous source of information in the environment, and are utilized by a wide range of animals. In this review, I concentrate on the propagation of vibrations across and through substrates, which are materials and surfaces. During the propagation process, physical constraints act on vibrational signals and cues, including loss of energy, fi ltering or distortion of information. An understanding of these physical mechanisms is important for answering biological questions about communication and information gathering, particularly the reach of signals/cues and how information can be separated from background noise. In this review, I explore the interdisciplinary links central to the fi eld of biotremology to probe the extent to which physical laws limit information propagation. In what follows, I start with a primer in wave theory, before focusing on how the physical factors of wave type and substrate properties affect vibration propagation. I then turn to the interacting biological factors that in fl uence signal/cue propagation during animal-substrate coupling, discussing the numerous behavioural and morphological adaptations employed to mitigate physical constraints. Following this, I then move from limits to pos- sibilities, discussing how animals harness physical laws to provide useful information. Using examples from a wide range of animal systems and biological contexts, I highlight the array of evolutionary strategies to promote the propagation of information given inevitable physical constraints.

}, keywords = {biomaterials, biophysics, biotremology, physical ecology, vibration}, issn = {00033472}, doi = {10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.015}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003347217301902}, author = {Mortimer, Beth} } @article {47861, title = {The control of carrier frequency in cricket calls: a refutation of the subalar-tegminal resonance/auditory feedback model.}, journal = {J Exp Biol}, volume = {203}, year = {2000}, month = {2000 Feb}, pages = {585-96}, abstract = {

The subalar-tegminal resonance/auditory feedback hypothesis attempts to explain how crickets control the carrier frequency (f(C)), the loudness and the spectral purity of their calls. This model contrasts with the \&$\#$39;clockwork cricket\&$\#$39; or escapement model by proposing that f(C) is not controlled by the resonance of the cricket\&$\#$39;s radiators (the harps) but is instead controlled neurally. It suggests that crickets are capable of driving their harps to vibrate at any frequency and that they use a tunable Helmholtz-like resonator consisting of the tegmina and the air within the subalar space to amplify and filter the f(C). This model predicts that f(C) is variable, that call loudness is related to tegminal position (and subalar volume) and that low-density gases should cause f(C) to increase. In Anurogryllus arboreus, f(C) is not constant and varied by as much as 0.8 \% between pulses. Within each sound pulse, the average f(C) typically decreased from the first to the last third of a sound pulse by 9 \%. When crickets called in a mixture of heliox and air, f(C) increased 1.07- to 1.14-fold above the value in air. However, if the subalar space were part of a Helmholtz-like resonator, then its resonant frequency should have increased by 40-50 \%. Moreover, similar increases occurred in species that lack a subalar space (oecanthines). Experimental reduction of the subalar volume of singing crickets resulted neither in a change in f(C) nor in a change in loudness. Nor did crickets attempt to restore the subalar volume to its original value. These results disprove the presence of a subalar-tegminal resonator. The free resonance of freshly excised Gryllus rubens tegmina shifted by 1.09-fold when moved between air and a mixture of helium and air. Auditory feedback cannot be the cause of this shift, which is similar to the f(C) shifts in intact individuals of other species. Calculations show that the harp is 3.9-1.8 times more massive than the air that moves en masse with the vibrating harps. Replacing air with heliox-air lowers the mass of the vibrating system sufficiently to account for the f(C) shifts. These results re-affirm the \&$\#$39;clockwork cricket\&$\#$39; (escapement) hypothesis. However, as realized by others, the harps should be viewed as narrow-band variable-frequency oscillators whose tuning may be controlled by factors that vary the effective mass.

}, keywords = {acoustic stimulation, animal vocalization, Animals, biological models, feedback, Gryllidae, male, vibration}, issn = {0022-0949}, author = {Prestwich, K N and Lenihan, K M and Martin, D M} } @article {47589, title = {Processing of vibratory and acoustic signals by ventral cord neurones in the cricket Gryllus campestris}, journal = {Journal of Insect Physiology}, volume = {30}, year = {1984}, month = {Jan-01-1984}, pages = {575 - 585}, abstract = {

The responses of single vibratory receptors and ascending ventral cord interneurones were studied extracellularly in Gryllus campestris L. The physiology of the vibration receptors resembled those found in tettigoniids and locusts. The frequency responses of the subgenual receptors provide two possible cues for central frequency discrimination: differences in mean tuning between groups of receptors in the different leg pairs and a range of receptors tuned to different frequencies within one subgenual organ.

Most of the ascending vibratory interneurones were highly sensitive in either the low or high frequency range. Broadbanded neurones were less sensitive. The characteristic sensitivity peaks of these units are due mainly to receptor inputs from a particular leg pair, although most central neurones receive inputs from all 6 legs. Only one neurone type, TN1 received excitatory inputs from both auditory and vibratory receptors; its responses were greatly enhanced by the simultaneous presentation of both stimulus modes. The responses to sound stimuli of AN2, on the other hand, were inhibited by vibration. No other auditory interneurones investigated were influenced by inputs from vibration receptors. Central processing of vibratory information in the cricket is compared with that of tettigoniids and locusts.

}, keywords = {central coprocessing, cricket, interneurone, sound, vibration}, issn = {00221910}, doi = {10.1016/0022-1910(84)90086-6}, url = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022191084900866}, author = {K{\"u}hne, Roland and Silver, Susan and Lewis, Brian} }