Effects of the Pyrethroid Insecticide Cypermethrin on the Locomotor Activity of the Wolf Spider Pardosa amentata: Quantitative Analysis Employing Computer-Automated Video Tracking

The courtship song of male Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, 1830 is involved in species recognition and sexual stimulation. This signal is usually addressed to the female to reduce her locomotor activity, thereby facilitating copulation. However, no accurate quantification of her locomotion has been made. To examine the effect of courtship song on locomotor behaviour of both sexes, we used a video-tracking system that allowed for the quantification of two indicators of activity level: distance moved and movement duration. First, we showed that the broadcast of the courtship song alone produced no effect on female locomotion. Females reduced their locomotor activity only when acoustical stimulation was placed in a natural courtship context (i.e., in the presence of a male). This suggests that the sum of visual, tactile, acoustic, and chemical stimuli provided by the male may act together to trigger female receptivity. Second, our playback experiments showed a strong stimulating effect of courtship song (particularly of the pulse component) on the locomotor activity of isolated males, suggesting that this signal probably plays a role in male stimulation. Courtship song has an opposite effect on male/female locomotor activity in D. melanogaster.

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Mouse Short- and Long-term Locomotor Activity Analyzed by Video Tracking Software

Journal of Visualized Experiments ◽

10.3791/50252 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jason M. York ◽

Neil A. Blevins ◽

Leslie K. McNeil ◽

Gregory G. Freund

Keyword(s):

Locomotor Activity ◽

Video Tracking ◽

Short And Long Term

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Automated video tracking and flight analysis show how bumblebees solve a pattern discrimination task using active vision

10.1101/2021.03.09.434580 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

HaDi MaBouDi ◽

Mark Roper ◽

Marie Guiraud ◽

James A.R. Marshall ◽

Lars Chittka

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Active Vision ◽

Pattern Discrimination ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Small Region ◽

Video Tracking ◽

Head Movements ◽

Flight Behaviour ◽

Automated Video Tracking

AbstractActive vision, the ability of the visual system to actively sample and select relevant information out of a visual scene through eye and head movements, has been explored in a variety of animal species. Small-brained animals such as insects might rely even more on sequential acquisition of pattern features since there might be less parallel processing capacity in their brains than in vertebrates. To investigate how active vision strategies enable bees to solve visual tasks, here, we employed a simple visual discrimination task in which individual bees were presented with a multiplication symbol and a 45° rotated version of the same pattern (“plus sign”). High-speed videography of unrewarded tests and analysis of the bees’ flight paths shows that only a small region of the pattern is inspected before successfully accepting a target or rejecting a distractor. The bees’ scanning behaviour of the stimuli differed for plus signs and multiplication signs, but for each of these, the flight behaviour was consistent irrespective of whether the pattern was rewarding or unrewarding. Bees typically oriented themselves at ~±30° to the patterns such that only one eye had an unobscured view of stimuli. There was a significant preference for initially scanning the left side of the stimuli. Our results suggest that the bees’ movement may be an integral part of a strategy to efficiently analyse and encode their environment.Summary statementAutomated video tracking and flight analysis is proposed as the next milestone in understanding mechanisms underpinning active vision and cognitive visual abilities of bees.

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Parasites in space and time: a novel method to assess and illustrate host-searching behaviour of trematode cercariae

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s0031182018000288 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 145 (11) ◽

pp. 1469-1474 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Christian Selbach ◽

Robert Poulin

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Parasite Community ◽

Video Tracking ◽

Trematode Species ◽

Host Searching ◽

Novel Method ◽

The Individual ◽

Individual Strategies ◽

Host Parasite ◽

Automated Video Tracking

AbstractThe transmission from one host to another constitutes a challenging obstacle for parasites and is a key determinant of their fitness. Due to their complex life histories involving several different hosts, the free-living dispersal stages (cercariae) of digenean trematodes show a huge diversity in morphology and behaviour. On a finer scale, we still have an extremely limited understanding of the inter- and intraspecific variation in transmission strategies of many trematode species. Here, we present a novel method to study the movement patterns of cercariae of four New Zealand trematode species (Coitocaecum parvum, Maritrema poulini, Apatemon sp. and Aporocotylid sp. I.) via automated video tracking. This approach allows to quantify parameters otherwise not measurable and clearly illustrates the individual strategies of parasites to search for their respective target hosts. Cercariae that seek out an evasive fish target hosts showed higher swimming speeds (acceleration and velocity) and travelled further distances, compared with species searching for high-density crustacean hosts. Automated video tracking provides a powerful tool for such detailed analyses of parasites’ host-searching strategies and can enhance our understanding of complex host–parasite interactions, ranging from parasite community structure to the transmission of potential disease agents.

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