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How insects sense olfactory patches - the spatial scaling of olfactory information

Andersson, Petter ; Löfstedt, Christer LU and Hambäck, Peter A. (2013) In Oikos 122(7). p.1009-1016
Abstract
When searching for resources in heterogeneous environments, animals must rely on their abilities to detect the resources via their sensory systems. However, variation in the strength of the sensory cue may be mediated by the physical size of the resource patch. Patch detection of insects are often predicted by the scaling of sensory cues to patch size, where visual cues has been proposed to scale proportional to the diameter of the patch. The scaling properties of olfactory cues are, however, virtually unknown. Here, we investigated scaling rules for olfactory information in a gradient of numbers of odour sources, relevant to odour-mediated attraction under field conditions. We recorded moth antennal responses to sex pheromones downwind... (More)
When searching for resources in heterogeneous environments, animals must rely on their abilities to detect the resources via their sensory systems. However, variation in the strength of the sensory cue may be mediated by the physical size of the resource patch. Patch detection of insects are often predicted by the scaling of sensory cues to patch size, where visual cues has been proposed to scale proportional to the diameter of the patch. The scaling properties of olfactory cues are, however, virtually unknown. Here, we investigated scaling rules for olfactory information in a gradient of numbers of odour sources, relevant to odour-mediated attraction under field conditions. We recorded moth antennal responses to sex pheromones downwind from pheromone patches and estimated the slope in the scaling relationship between the effective length of the odour plumes and the number of odour sources. These measurements showed that the effective plume length increased proportional to the square root of the number of odour sources. The scaling relationship, as estimated in the field experiment, was then evaluated against field data of the slope in the relationship between trap catch and release rate of chemical attractants for a wide range of insects. This meta-analysis revealed an average slope largely consistent with the estimated scaling relationship between the effective plume length and the number of odour sources. This study is the first to estimate the scaling properties of olfactory cues empirically and has implications for understanding and predicting the spatial distributions of insects searching by means of olfactory cues in heterogeneous environments. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Oikos
volume
122
issue
7
pages
1009 - 1016
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000320618900006
  • scopus:84879419446
ISSN
1600-0706
DOI
10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.00037.x
project
Evolutionary mechanisms of pheromone divergence in Lepidoptera
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4a999d95-2276-4262-9d90-ae810a87edc0 (old id 3987324)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:54:33
date last changed
2024-05-05 22:32:51
@article{4a999d95-2276-4262-9d90-ae810a87edc0,
  abstract     = {{When searching for resources in heterogeneous environments, animals must rely on their abilities to detect the resources via their sensory systems. However, variation in the strength of the sensory cue may be mediated by the physical size of the resource patch. Patch detection of insects are often predicted by the scaling of sensory cues to patch size, where visual cues has been proposed to scale proportional to the diameter of the patch. The scaling properties of olfactory cues are, however, virtually unknown. Here, we investigated scaling rules for olfactory information in a gradient of numbers of odour sources, relevant to odour-mediated attraction under field conditions. We recorded moth antennal responses to sex pheromones downwind from pheromone patches and estimated the slope in the scaling relationship between the effective length of the odour plumes and the number of odour sources. These measurements showed that the effective plume length increased proportional to the square root of the number of odour sources. The scaling relationship, as estimated in the field experiment, was then evaluated against field data of the slope in the relationship between trap catch and release rate of chemical attractants for a wide range of insects. This meta-analysis revealed an average slope largely consistent with the estimated scaling relationship between the effective plume length and the number of odour sources. This study is the first to estimate the scaling properties of olfactory cues empirically and has implications for understanding and predicting the spatial distributions of insects searching by means of olfactory cues in heterogeneous environments.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Petter and Löfstedt, Christer and Hambäck, Peter A.}},
  issn         = {{1600-0706}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{1009--1016}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Oikos}},
  title        = {{How insects sense olfactory patches - the spatial scaling of olfactory information}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.00037.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.00037.x}},
  volume       = {{122}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}