Orientation responses of the grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes, to visual, olfactory and wind stimuli and their combinations

Abstract

AbstractPrereproductive adults of the grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) (Orthoptera, Acrididae), demonstrated orientation and movement towards both visual and olfactory stimulus sources in a still‐air chamber. Visual stimuli (wheat and lima bean foliage, vertical black or yellow‐green stripes, and a yellow‐green broad leaf pattern) were approached more frequently than the control white background surface. Olfactory stimuli (chopped wheat foliage and a four‐component, synthetic, ‘grass odor’ blend of volatiles) elicited an even greater positive response than the visual stimuli. Changing the proportions of the four volatiles in the blend significantly reduced positive orientation responses to the stimulus source. Visual cues of wheat foliage and olfactory cues of either chopped wheat odor or the ‘grass odor’ blend gave greater responses when combined than when presented separately.In flowing air or wind, nearly all insects demonstrated a rapid positive response to odors of chopped wheat and the ‘grass odor’ blend, significantly greater than the response to the same stimuli in still air. However, positive responses to visual cues were not significantly greater in wind than in still air. When combined with the olfactory stimuli in flowing air, visual cues did not increase the incidence of response. Grasshoppers responding to grass odors in wind moved more rapidly and directly toward the source, and stopped less often and for shorter durations than insects responding to odor in still air or to visual cues.We conclude from these studies that M. sanguinipes adults show orientation behavior to both visual and olfactory stimuli from food plant sources, although leaf odors elicit a stronger positive response particularly when carried by wind.