The Effect of Energetic Costs on Calling Strategies of the House Cricket, Acheta domesticus
Poster Number
28
Format
Poster Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
Marcos Gridi-Papp
Faculty Mentor Department
Biological Sciences
Abstract/Artist Statement
Much is known about the acoustic communication of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus), through both laboratory studies of its neurobiological basis and field studies of its ecology. We ask how ecological and neural factors influence the calling strategies of house crickets. Males chirp to attract mates by rubbing a pair of wings, and chirping is energetically expensive. In a signaling strategy, crickets divide their energetic budget in various dimensions of sound production: chirp intensity, chirp rate and number of hours chirping per night. If the wings are moderately loaded with weight, the animal might: 1) maintain the chirping behavior and experience altered sound and energetic cost; 2) maintain its energetic cost by altering the chirping behavior and sound; 3) maintain its sound with altered behavior and energetic cost. In order to determine which of these three strategies the cricket will actually employ, we will compare the chirping of a control group to that of a group of crickets whose wings are loaded with a coat of glue. We have developed a 16-channel, 32-bit recording studio which houses 16 crickets and monitors them individually and continuously. Each cricket is housed in a semisoundproof box. We are currently adjusting the software to identify and measure individual chirps in the recordings. The results will provide insight into the complexity of the brain circuits that define the signaling strategies of male crickets.
Location
Grave Covell
Start Date
21-4-2012 10:00 AM
End Date
21-4-2012 12:00 PM
The Effect of Energetic Costs on Calling Strategies of the House Cricket, Acheta domesticus
Grave Covell
Much is known about the acoustic communication of the house cricket (Acheta domesticus), through both laboratory studies of its neurobiological basis and field studies of its ecology. We ask how ecological and neural factors influence the calling strategies of house crickets. Males chirp to attract mates by rubbing a pair of wings, and chirping is energetically expensive. In a signaling strategy, crickets divide their energetic budget in various dimensions of sound production: chirp intensity, chirp rate and number of hours chirping per night. If the wings are moderately loaded with weight, the animal might: 1) maintain the chirping behavior and experience altered sound and energetic cost; 2) maintain its energetic cost by altering the chirping behavior and sound; 3) maintain its sound with altered behavior and energetic cost. In order to determine which of these three strategies the cricket will actually employ, we will compare the chirping of a control group to that of a group of crickets whose wings are loaded with a coat of glue. We have developed a 16-channel, 32-bit recording studio which houses 16 crickets and monitors them individually and continuously. Each cricket is housed in a semisoundproof box. We are currently adjusting the software to identify and measure individual chirps in the recordings. The results will provide insight into the complexity of the brain circuits that define the signaling strategies of male crickets.