scholarly journals Location-specific cuticular hydrocarbon signals in a social insect

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1827) ◽  
pp. 20160310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qike Wang ◽  
Jason Q. D. Goodger ◽  
Ian E. Woodrow ◽  
Mark A. Elgar
Keyword(s):  
Social Insect ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Signal Function ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Specific Identification ◽  
Signal Functions ◽  
Nest Mate ◽  
Chemical Signalling ◽  
Novel Approach

Social insects use cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) to convey different social signals, including colony or nest identity. Despite extensive investigations, the exact source and identity of CHCs that act as nest-specific identification signals remain largely unknown. Perhaps this is because studies that identify CHC signals typically use organic solvents to extract a single sample from the entire animal, thereby analysing a cocktail of chemicals that may serve several signal functions. We took a novel approach by first identifying CHC profiles from different body parts of ants ( Iridomyrmex purpureus ), then used behavioural bioassays to reveal the location of specific social signals. The CHC profiles of both workers and alates varied between different body parts, and workers paid more attention to the antennae of non-nest-mate and the legs of nest-mate workers. Workers responded less aggressively to non-nest-mate workers if the CHCs on the antennae of their opponents were removed with a solvent. These data indicate that CHCs located on the antennae reveal nest-mate identity and, remarkably, that antennae both convey and receive social signals. Our approach and findings could be valuably applied to chemical signalling in other behavioural contexts, and provide insights that were otherwise obscured by including chemicals that either have no signal function or may be used in other contexts.

scholarly journals Learning and discrimination of cuticular hydrocarbons in a social insect

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen van Wilgenburg ◽  
Antoine Felden ◽  
Dong-Hwan Choe ◽  
Robert Sulc ◽  
Jun Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chain Length ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Mate Recognition ◽  
Olfactory Conditioning ◽  
Argentine Ants ◽  
Nest Mate ◽  
Chemical Signalling ◽  
Branching Patterns

Social insect cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) mixtures are among the most complex chemical cues known and are important in nest-mate, caste and species recognition. Despite our growing knowledge of the nature of these cues, we have very little insight into how social insects actually perceive and discriminate among these chemicals. In this study, we use the newly developed technique of differential olfactory conditioning to pure, custom-designed synthetic colony odours to analyse signal discrimination in Argentine ants, Linepithema humile . Our results show that tri-methyl alkanes are more easily learned than single-methyl or straight-chain alkanes. In addition, we reveal that Argentine ants can discriminate between hydrocarbons with different branching patterns and the same chain length, but not always between hydrocarbons with the same branching patterns but different chain length. Our data thus show that biochemical characteristics influence those compounds that ants can discriminate between, and which thus potentially play a role in chemical signalling and nest-mate recognition.

scholarly journals Joint Pedestrian and Body Part Detection via Semantic Relationship Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhua Gu ◽  
Chuanxin Lan ◽  
Wenbai Chen ◽  
Hu Han
Keyword(s):  
Pedestrian Detection ◽  
Body Part ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Semantic Relationship ◽  
The Public ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Person Search

While remarkable progress has been made to pedestrian detection in recent years, robust pedestrian detection in the wild e.g., under surveillance scenarios with occlusions, remains a challenging problem. In this paper, we present a novel approach for joint pedestrian and body part detection via semantic relationship learning under unconstrained scenarios. Specifically, we propose a Body Part Indexed Feature (BPIF) representation to encode the semantic relationship between individual body parts (i.e., head, head-shoulder, upper body, and whole body) and highlight per body part features, providing robustness against partial occlusions to the whole body. We also propose an Adaptive Joint Non-Maximum Suppression (AJ-NMS) to replace the original NMS algorithm widely used in object detection, leading to higher precision and recall for detecting overlapped pedestrians. Experimental results on the public-domain CUHK-SYSU Person Search Dataset show that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for joint pedestrian and body part detection in the wild.

scholarly journals Speed and accuracy in nest-mate recognition: a hover wasp prioritizes face recognition over colony odour cues to minimize intrusion by outsiders

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20142750 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Baracchi ◽  
I. Petrocelli ◽  
L. Chittka ◽  
G. Ricciardi ◽  
S. Turillazzi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Mate Recognition ◽  
Social Wasp ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Nest Mate ◽  
Colony Odour ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Chemical Profiles ◽  
Serious Injury

Social insects have evolved sophisticated recognition systems enabling them to accept nest-mates but reject alien conspecifics. In the social wasp, Liostenogaster flavolineata (Stenogastrinae), individuals differ in their cuticular hydrocarbon profiles according to colony membership; each female also possesses a unique (visual) facial pattern. This species represents a unique model to understand how vision and olfaction are integrated and the extent to which wasps prioritize one channel over the other to discriminate aliens and nest-mates. Liostenogaster flavolineata females are able to discriminate between alien and nest-mate females using facial patterns or chemical cues in isolation. However, the two sensory modalities are not equally efficient in the discrimination of ‘friend’ from ‘foe’. Visual cues induce an increased number of erroneous attacks on nest-mates (false alarms), but such attacks are quickly aborted and never result in serious injury. Odour cues, presented in isolation, result in an increased number of misses: erroneous acceptances of outsiders. Interestingly, wasps take the relative efficiencies of the two sensory modalities into account when making rapid decisions about colony membership of an individual: chemical profiles are entirely ignored when the visual and chemical stimuli are presented together. Thus, wasps adopt a strategy to ‘err on the safe side’ by memorizing individual faces to recognize colony members, and disregarding odour cues to minimize the risk of intrusion from colony outsiders.

Calling, Recalling, and Restoring the Signal Function of Emotions

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-227
Author(s):  
Michael H. Davison
Keyword(s):  
Psychotropic Medication ◽  
Signal Function ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Process ◽  
Signal Functions ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Anxiety And Fear ◽  
Current Emphasis

Among the huge accumulation of psychological books offered in libraries and book stores, a relative few volumes stand out in an otherwise deluge of self-help exhortations, and discuss the psychotherapeutic process itself. Of that small portion, most consist of self-congratulatory case histories from professional therapists. Few volumes come from patients. The author, a long-term psychotherapy patient, briefly summarizes lessons gained in one of the most difficult processes a human can endure. The essay criticizes the current emphasis on psychotropic medication and equates anesthetizing unpleasant emotions, particulary depression, to shooting the messenger. Unpleasant emotions, like physiological pain, act as the body’s signals that something needs attention. Drugging them into insensitivity in the belief that they stem from unbalanced chemistry cures nothing. The argument offers an admittedly more difficult alternative that preserves the natural signal functions of depression, anxiety, and fear.

scholarly journals The cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of honey bee workers develop via a socially-modulated innate process

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassondra L Vernier ◽  
Joshua J Krupp ◽  
Katelyn Marcus ◽  
Abraham Hefetz ◽  
Joel D Levine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Specific Chemical ◽  
Behavioral Interactions ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Chemical Profiles ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Environmentally Sensitive ◽  
Honey Bee Workers

Large social insect colonies exhibit a remarkable ability for recognizing group members via colony-specific cuticular pheromonal signatures. Previous work suggested that in some ant species, colony-specific pheromonal profiles are generated through a mechanism involving the transfer and homogenization of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) across members of the colony. However, how colony-specific chemical profiles are generated in other social insect clades remains mostly unknown. Here we show that in the honey bee (Apis mellifera), the colony-specific CHC profile completes its maturation in foragers via a sequence of stereotypic age-dependent quantitative and qualitative chemical transitions, which are driven by environmentally-sensitive intrinsic biosynthetic pathways. Therefore, the CHC profiles of individual honey bees are not likely produced through homogenization and transfer mechanisms, but instead mature in association with age-dependent division of labor. Furthermore, non-nestmate rejection behaviors seem to be contextually restricted to behavioral interactions between entering foragers and guards at the hive entrance.

scholarly journals The heterogeneity of drug response as the basis of identification of essential tremor subtypes

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zamira M Muruzheva ◽  
Marina N Karpenko ◽  
Victor M Klimenko
Keyword(s):  
Drug Therapy ◽  
Essential Tremor ◽  
Drug Response ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Pharmacological Response ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Antagonist Muscles ◽  
Long Time

Introduction. Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders. It is mainly characterized by postural and kinetic tremor, affecting arms and other body parts. Progression of ET violates social activity, lowers self-esteem, and occasionally leads to the patient’s disability. Selection of an effective drug therapy for ET is mostly carried out empirically and takes long time, which causes additional negative psycho-emotional effects, distrust of the doctor and abandonment of the treatment. Present study is aimed at the implementing a novel approach to the segregation of ET subtypes based on the heterogeneity of the pharmacological response. Results. Neuroanatomical, electrophysiological and biochemical data published to date are outlined in the current paper, to designate parameters for identification of ET subtypes with deterministic pharmacological response. Before prescribing pharmacotherapy for patients with ET, it is necessary to perform asurface electromyography to identify the patterntype of antagonist muscles contractions. In addition, the concentration of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid in peripheral blood should be determined. Conclusion. The heterogeneity of pharmacological response among patients with ET necessitates a more subtle classification within the syndrome by neuroanatomical, electrophysiological and biochemical indicators. The approach proposed in the review will increase the effectiveness of therapy and improve the lifequality of patients with ET. (For citation: Muruzheva ZM, Karpenko MN, Klimenko VM. The heterogeneity of drug response as the basis of identificationof essential tremor subtypes. Reviews on Clinical Pharmacology and Drug Therapy. 2018;16(1):54-59. doi: 10.17816/RCF16154-59).

scholarly journals Distinct chemical blends produced by different reproductive castes in the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-André Eyer ◽  
Jared Salin ◽  
Anjel M. Helms ◽  
Edward L. Vargo
Keyword(s):  
Cuticular Hydrocarbons ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Reticulitermes Flavipes ◽  
Reproductive Status ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Termite Species ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Primary Reproductives

AbstractThe production of royal pheromones by reproductives (queens and kings) enables social insect colonies to allocate individuals into reproductive and non-reproductive roles. In many termite species, nestmates can develop into neotenics when the primary king or queen dies, which then inhibit the production of additional reproductives. This suggests that primary reproductives and neotenics produce royal pheromones. The cuticular hydrocarbon heneicosane was identified as a royal pheromone in Reticulitermes flavipes neotenics. Here, we investigated the presence of this and other cuticular hydrocarbons in primary reproductives and neotenics of this species, and the ontogeny of their production in primary reproductives. Our results revealed that heneicosane was produced by most neotenics, raising the question of whether reproductive status may trigger its production. Neotenics produced six additional cuticular hydrocarbons absent from workers and nymphs. Remarkably, heneicosane and four of these compounds were absent in primary reproductives, and the other two compounds were present in lower quantities. Neotenics therefore have a distinct ‘royal’ blend from primary reproductives, and potentially over-signal their reproductive status. Our results suggest that primary reproductives and neotenics may face different social pressures. Future studies of these pressures should provide a more complete understanding of the mechanisms underlying social regulation in termites.

Visual and chemical signalling in butterflies: functional and phylogenetic perspectives

1993 ◽  
Vol 340 (1292) ◽  
pp. 197-205 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Mate Location ◽  
General Context ◽  
Signal Functions ◽  
Chemical Signalling ◽  
Colour Patterns ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Signalling Systems

The two major signal functions for adult butterflies are protection against predators and intraspecific communication. Protective use of colour patterns (e.g. aposematism, crypsis) is mainly directed against visually hunting vertebrate predators. Mate location in butterflies is effected through behavioural adaptations of both sexes, and long-range visual searching by males. Recognition and selection of mates at close-range is largely controlled by species-specific male pheromone components, although other signals (e.g. colour, movement) play the initial role. Increased elaboration of pheromones for specific signalling has been hypothesized where the design of visual signals is constrained by defensive functions involving pattern convergence (co-mimicry). Male pheromones are also important for trait signalling, often being decisive in female mate choice. The general context of visual and olfactory signals in butterfly communication is discussed using specific examples, including Amauris . Their low divergence in colour patterns contrasts with great differentiation in the chemistry of their scent-organ volatiles. Models for the evolution of chemical signalling systems in these mimetic butterflies are compared and assessed. A more complete understanding of the evolution and function of butterfly signalling systems will require renewed effort in a number of areas. These include integrated studies on the use and significance of colours and scents, the measurement of colour, chemical analyses of pheromone bouquets, genetics, and receptor physiology. All of this work will need to be put in a better comparative framework through cladistic analysis of a wider variety of biologically contrasted butterfly groups, including previously studied cases lacking a rigorous phylogenetic perspective.

scholarly journals Is parasite pressure a driver of chemical cue diversity in ants?

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1705) ◽  
pp. 496-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Martin ◽  
Heikki Helanterä ◽  
Falko P. Drijfhout
Keyword(s):  
Gene Diversity ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbon ◽  
Mate Recognition ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Chemical Cue ◽  
Evolutionary Forces ◽  
Nest Mate ◽  
Formica Fusca ◽  
Neutral Gene ◽  
The Uk

Parasites and pathogens are possibly key evolutionary forces driving recognition systems. However, empirical evidence remains sparse. The ubiquitous pioneering ant Formica fusca is exploited by numerous socially parasitic ant species. We compared the chemical cue diversity, egg and nest mate recognition abilities in two Finnish and two UK populations where parasite pressure is high or absent, respectively. Finnish populations had excellent egg and nest mate discrimination abilities, which were lost in the UK populations. The loss of discrimination behaviour correlates with a loss in key recognition compounds (C 25 -dimethylalkanes). This was not owing to genetic drift or different ecotypes since neutral gene diversity was the same in both countries. Furthermore, it is known that the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of non-host ant species remain stable between Finland and the UK. The most parsimonious explanation for the striking difference in the cue diversity (number of C 25 -dimethylalkanes isomers) between the UK and Finland populations is the large differences in parasite pressure experienced by F. fusca in the two countries. These results have strong parallels with bird (cuckoo) studies and support the hypothesis that parasites are driving recognition cue diversity.

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