Insect Songs Research Articles

Insect acoustics: Listening in on the deep past

Insect songs are compelling features of the natural environment, and insects provide diverse model systems merging the worlds of entomologists and engineers. An unusually well-preserved fossil katydid highlights the synergy between these disciplines and offers a compelling glimpse into the deep past.

Subjective salience and the effects of familiarity with birdsongs and insect songs in noise environments

In Japan, birdsong is used to communicate the position of stairwells to visually impaired people at train stations. However, more than 40% of visually impaired people reported that such sounds were difficult to identify. Train companies seek to present sounds that are loud enough to be detected, but not loud enough to cause annoyance in noise environments. In this study, we examined the salience of different types of bird and insect songs in noise environments. We evaluated the subjective saliences of bird and insect songs with equal sound pressure levels using paired comparison methods. A total of 25 participants evaluated six types of bird and insect songs under three noise conditions. The relationships among subjective salience, physical parameters, and familiarity were examined. The results indicated that the sounds of Horornis diphone and Meimuna opalifera were the most salient types of birdsongs and insect songs, respectively, in noise environments. The degree of temporal and spectral change, binaural similarity, pitch, pitch strength, and familiarity were significant predictors of the subjective salience of birdsongs and insect songs in noise environments.This study contributes to enhance the safety of visually challenged people and to create a more attractive sound environment.

Subjective Salience of Birdsong and Insect Song with Equal Sound Pressure Level and Loudness.

Birdsong is used to communicate the position of stairwells to visually impaired people in train stations in Japan. However, more than 40% of visually impaired people reported that such sounds were difficult to identify. Train companies seek to present the sounds at a sound pressure level that is loud enough to be detected, but not so loud as to be annoying. Therefore, salient birdsongs with relatively low sound pressure levels are required. In the current study, we examined the salience of different types of birdsong and insect song, and determined the dominant physical parameters related to salience. We considered insect songs because both birdsongs and insect songs have been found to have positive effects on soundscapes. We evaluated subjective saliences of birdsongs and insect songs using paired comparison methods, and examined the relationships between subjective salience and physical parameters. In total, 62 participants evaluated 18 types of bird songs and 16 types of insect sounds. The results indicated that the following features significantly influenced subjective salience: the maximum peak amplitude of the autocorrelation function, which signifies pitch strength; the interaural cross-correlation coefficient, which signifies apparent source width; the amplitude fluctuation component; and spectral content, such as flux and skewness.

Subjective Preferences for Birdsong and Insect Song in Equal Sound Pressure Level

Birdsong is used as a sound signal for visually impaired people in train stations in Japan. However, such sound signals were reportedly difficult to be localized by over 40% of visually impaired people. More than 40% of visually impaired people reported that such sound signals were difficult to identify. The sound pressure level of birdsong is typically low because higher levels of birdsong can cause annoyance to users or residents. Therefore, preferences for birdsong should be investigated. Importantly, birdsong and insect song have been shown to have a positive effect on soundscapes. However, preferences for different types of birdsong and insect song have not been investigated. The current study sought to clarify which types of birdsong and insect song are preferred, and to determine the dominant physical parameters that relate to the preference. We evaluated subjective preferences for various types of birdsong and insect song using paired comparison tests. The relationships between subjective preference and physical parameters were examined. The results indicated that Horornis diphone and Teleogryllus emma were the most preferred types of birdsong and insect song, both of which are common in Japan. The maximum peak amplitude of the autocorrelation function, determinants of which are pitch salience, loudness, and spectral content, such as centroid, flux, and rolloff, are significant parameters influencing subjective preference.

The Genetics of Mating Song Evolution Underlying Rapid Speciation: Linking Quantitative Variation to Candidate Genes for Behavioral Isolation.

Differences in mating behaviors evolve early during speciation, eventually contributing to reproductive barriers between species. Knowledge of the genetic and genomic basis of these behaviors is therefore integral to a causal understanding of speciation. Acoustic behaviors are often part of the mating ritual in animal species. The temporal rhythms of mating songs are notably species-specific in many vertebrates and arthropods and often underlie assortative mating. Despite discoveries of mutations that disrupt the temporal rhythm of these songs, we know surprisingly little about genes affecting naturally occurring variation in the temporal pattern of singing behavior. In the rapidly speciating Hawaiian cricket genus Laupala, the striking species variation in song rhythms constitutes a behavioral barrier to reproduction between species. Here, we mapped the largest-effect locus underlying interspecific variation in song rhythm between two Laupala species to a narrow genomic region, wherein we find no known candidate genes affecting song temporal rhythm in Drosophila Whole-genome sequencing, gene prediction, and functional annotation of this region reveal an exciting and promising candidate gene, the putative cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel-like gene, for natural variation in mating behavior. Identification and molecular characterization of the candidate gene reveals a nonsynonymous mutation in a conserved binding domain, suggesting that ion channels are important targets of selection on rhythmic signaling during establishment of behavioral isolation and rapid speciation.

Evolutionarily conserved coding properties favour the neuronal representation of heterospecific signals of a sympatric katydid species

To function as a mechanism in premating isolation, the divergent and species-specific calling songs of acoustic insects must be reliably processed by the afferent auditory pathway of receivers. Here, we analysed the responses of interneurons in a katydid species that uses long-lasting acoustic trills and compared these with previously reported data for homologous interneurons of a sympatric species that uses short chirps as acoustic signals. Some interneurons of the trilling species respond exclusively to the heterospecific chirp due to selective, low-frequency tuning and “novelty detection”. These properties have been considered as evolutionary adaptations in the sensory system of the chirper, which allow it to detect signals effectively during the simultaneous calling of the sympatric sibling species. We propose that these two mechanisms, shared by the interneurons of both species, did not evolve in the chirper to guarantee its ability to detect the chirp under masking conditions. Instead we suggest that chirpers evolved an additional, 2-kHz component in their song and exploited pre-existing neuronal properties for detecting their song under masking noise. The failure of some interneurons to respond to the conspecific song in trillers does not prevent intraspecific communication, as other interneurons respond to the trill.

Raymonde Provencher, director. Grace, Milly, Lucy . . . Child Soldiers.2010. 52 minutes. Canada/Uganda. Women Make Movies. $295.00.

Raymonde Provencher, director. Grace, Milly, Lucy.. . Child Soldiers. 2010. 52 minutes. Canada/Uganda. Women Make Movies. $295.00.Grace, Milly, Lucy . . . Child Soldiers is portrait of three Ugandan women who were captives and girl soldiers injoseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army. Grace of the film's title is Grace Akallo, co-author of Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children (Chosen Books, 2007), founder of the NGO United Africans for Women and Children's Rights, and an accomplished international speaker on the themes of gender, youth, and militarism in Africa. Milly is Milly Auma, one of the four founders of Empowering Hands, Ugandan organization that offers community-based counseling to former abductees and displaced people. Lucy refers to Lucy Lanyero, woman about whom little is known beyond what appears in the film.The film opens on dark field of tall grasses with Grace's voice-over narrating the night of her abduction. Underneath, the soundtrack carries the mournful tones of string instruments and scattered insect songs, punctuated by the click-clack of an automatic weapon being loaded. We are told that Grace was student at St. Mary's College, Aboke, when militants launched late night raid and forced the schoolgirls to march barefoot into the bush, under threat of death by panga. Grace delivers terrifying retelling of how the schoolgirls were sorted into two categories: the small girls and the big girls. latter were allowed to leave following the desperate pleadings of one of the schoolteachers, while the small girls, Grace included, were fated to be left with the militants. Any thought of escape was vanquished with death threats against the would-be escapee or her friends. schoolgirls were told that if one member of the group of twenty-nine attempted to escape, the other twenty-eight would immediately be killed. About two weeks after her abduction, Grace learned firsthand just how precarious life had become. Just when the band of captives and keepers was about to enter into Sudan, one girl tried to escape but was caught. other girls were ordered to beat her to death and each picked up some small implement that she could use to put on convincing performance of brutality. Impatient with these schoolgirls who had not been fully transformed into girl soldiers, Grace tells us simply, The rebels hit her with an axe on the head. And she died.On the film's website (macubainternational.com), the director describes the work as a film on the fate of girl soldiers in Uganda. It would be more apt to say that it is memoir of girl soldiers and their postcaptivity lives. three girls stand in for three fates. In some ways, Grace, who was abducted as teenager and spent seven months in captivity, can be said to have formed the most successful postcaptivity life of the three. It is one that has taken her far away from the site of her childhood horrors to the rarefied halls of the United Nations and liberal colleges in Massachusetts. On the other extreme we have Lucy, who was abducted at age nine and spent ten years in captivity. In the film Lucy always appears to be two steps away from complete breakdown. She is tormented by mysterious sweats and evil spirits, requiring her to make numerous visits to the local herbalist. She is haunted by the actions of her past life, when she was known as Lance Corporal Lucy. But she seems to be also disturbed by subtly nagging pull to return to the bush. She is distrusted and kept at some distance by other former abductees who remembered the notorious Lance Corporal Lucy as mean and a hard person, as someone who took pleasure in discriminating between original LRA and those who were mere recruits.Milly was one of Lucy's co-wives in the harem of an fighter. She too was abducted at age nine and held in captivity for ten years. Her outcome or fate lies somewhere in the middle of the three. Like Lucy, she remains in Northern Uganda where she has to face the accusations and condemnations of those who were left behind-people like her new mother-in-law. …

Application of insect songs in monitoring population density level of Locusta migratoria migratoria (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

AbstractBackgroundThe locustsLocusta migratoria migratoria(Orthoptera: Acrididae) is the most destructive agricultural pests worldwide, the population and distribution ofL. migratoria migratoriagrowing rapidly in recent years. It is crucial to find a green, economical way to monitor this insect's population for effective control tactics. In this study, acoustic samples were recorded and analyzed under three different density levels of Asian migratory locustL. migratoria migratoria.ResultsThe results showed that the songs ofL. migratoria migratoriahad a very stable acoustic feature in time domains; then, we used duration of pulse as a tool for identifying and counting the numbers of pulse to classify the population size. After removing the background noises, an automatic density classification and monitoring system was established based on the backpropagation (BP) neural network. The field sample test showed that the accuracy of the density level recognition reached 96.67%.ConclusionsThe results indicated that the calling songs of insects could be an effective character to distinguish population density level of locust plagues, and it could be potentially used as a green and environmental protection solution in monitoring the dynamics of locust plagues and other acoustic agriculture pests.

Time and timing in the acoustic recognition system of crickets.

The songs of many insects exhibit precise timing as the result of repetitive and stereotyped subunits on several time scales. As these signals encode the identity of a species, time and timing are important for the recognition system that analyzes these signals. Crickets are a prominent example as their songs are built from sound pulses that are broadcast in a long trill or as a chirped song. This pattern appears to be analyzed on two timescales, short and long. Recent evidence suggests that song recognition in crickets relies on two computations with respect to time; a short linear-nonlinear (LN) model that operates as a filter for pulse rate and a longer integration time window for monitoring song energy over time. Therefore, there is a twofold role for timing. A filter for pulse rate shows differentiating properties for which the specific timing of excitation and inhibition is important. For an integrator, however, the duration of the time window is more important than the precise timing of events. Here, we first review evidence for the role of LN-models and integration time windows for song recognition in crickets. We then parameterize the filter part by Gabor functions and explore the effects of duration, frequency, phase, and offset as these will correspond to differently timed patterns of excitation and inhibition. These filter properties were compared with known preference functions of crickets and katydids. In a comparative approach, the power for song discrimination by LN-models was tested with the songs of over 100 cricket species. It is demonstrated how the acoustic signals of crickets occupy a simple 2-dimensional space for song recognition that arises from timing, described by a Gabor function, and time, the integration window. Finally, we discuss the evolution of recognition systems in insects based on simple sensory computations.

Plants respond to leaf vibrations caused by insect herbivore chewing.

Plant germination and growth can be influenced by sound, but the ecological significance of these responses is unclear. We asked whether acoustic energy generated by the feeding of insect herbivores was detected by plants. We report that the vibrations caused by insect feeding can elicit chemical defenses. Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) rosettes pre-treated with the vibrations caused by caterpillar feeding had higher levels of glucosinolate and anthocyanin defenses when subsequently fed upon by Pieris rapae (L.) caterpillars than did untreated plants. The plants also discriminated between the vibrations caused by chewing and those caused by wind or insect song. Plants thus respond to herbivore-generated vibrations in a selective and ecologically meaningful way. A vibration signaling pathway would complement the known signaling pathways that rely on volatile, electrical, or phloem-borne signals. We suggest that vibration may represent a new long distance signaling mechanism in plant–insect interactions that contributes to systemic induction of chemical defenses.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00442-014-2995-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

An Insect Song Signal Feature Extraction Method Based on the Wavelet Packet Analysis

The wavelet packet decomposition method was used to two common insects song signal. Frequency decomposition and feature extraction were made, the feature vectors, eigenvalues and the sound quality evaluation parameter vectors were constructed, then the correlation analysis calculation were made between the eigenvalues and the sound quality evaluation parameter vectors. The results show that the correlation coefficients are good, the average correlation coefficients of cricket and grasshopper song signals are 0.8875 and 0.6942, the results of cricket is much better than grasshopper, it proved that the proposed algorithm is more suitable for cricket song signals analysis, a new and effective sound quality evaluation method for typical insect with friction sound mechanism is provided.

Insect Sounds and Communication: Physiology, Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution

GENERAL ASPECTS OF INSECT SOUNDS Insect Sounds and Communication - An Introduction, M. Claridge Sound and Techniques in Sound Analysis, E. Eliopoulos The Auditory-Vibratory Sensory System in Bushcrickets, W. Roessler, M. Jatho, and K. Kalmring Sense Organs Involved in the Vibratory Communication of Bugs, A. Cokl, M. Virant-Doberlet, and M. Zorovi'c Use of Substrate Vibrations for Orientation: From Behaviour to Physiology, M. Virant-Doberlet, A. Cokl, and M. Zorovi'c Size-Frequency Relationships in Insect Vibrational Signals, R.B. Cocroft and P. De Luca Acoustic Signals and Temperature, A.F. Sanborn Insect Songs - The Evolution of Signal Complexity, W.J. Bailey Song Evolution and Speciation in Bush-Crickets, K.-G. Heller Acoustic Communication in Neuropterid Insects, C.S. Henry Inheritance of Male Sound Characteristics in Drosophila Species, A. Hoikkala Vibrational Communication and Mate Searching Behaviour in Stoneflies, K.W. Stewart and J.B. Sandberg Communication by Substrate-Borne Vibrations in Cave Planthoppers, H. Hoch and A. Wessel Partitioning of Acoustic Transmission Channels in Grasshopper Communities, M. Bukhvalova Insect Species and Their Songs, J. Sueur Is Migration Responsible for the Peculiar Geographical Distribution and Speciation Based on Acoustic Divergence of Two Cicadas in the Aegean Archipelago? S. Drosopoulos, E. Eliopoulos, and P. Tsakalou Acoustic Evolutionary Divergence in Cicadas: The Species of Cicada L. in Southern Europe, J.A. Quartau and P.C. Simoes Acoustic Communication, Mating Behaviour, and Hybridization in Closely Related, Pseudogamic, and Parthenogenetic Species of Planthoppers, S. Drosopoulos Photoperiodism, Morphology and Acoustic Behaviour in the Leafhopper Genus Euscelis H. Strubing and S. Drosopoulos Mutual Eavesdropping through Vibrations in a Host-Parasitoid Interaction: From Plant Biomechanics to Behavioural Ecology, J. Casas and Christelle Magal SOUNDS IN VARIOUS TAXA OF INSECTS Vibratory Signals Produced by Heteroptera - Pentatomorpha and Cimicomorpha Matija Gogala Vibrational Communication in Triatominae (Heteroptera) Claudio R. Lazzari, Gabriel Manrique, and Pablo E. Schilman Vibrational Communication in Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) Reginald B. Cocroft and Gabriel D. McNett Acoustic Characters in Classification of Higher Taxa of Auchenorrhyncha (Hemiptera) D. Yu. Tishechkin Acoustic Signals, Diversity, and Behaviour of Cicadas (Cicadidae, Hemiptera) Michel Boulard Vibratory Communication and Mating Behaviour in the European Lantern Fly Dictyophara europea (Dictyopharidae, Hemiptera) Hildegard Strubing Vibrational Communication in Psylloidea (Hemiptera) D. Yu. Tishechkin Mating Behaviour and Vibratory Signals in Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodoidea) K. Kanmiya Communication by Vibratory Signals in Diptera K. Kanmiya Stridulation in the Coleoptera - An Overview Andreas Wessel Vibrational Communication in Dung Beetles (Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera) Julia Kasper and Petra Hirschberger Vibratory and Airborne-Sound Signals in Bee Communication (Hymenoptera) Michael Hrncir, Friedrich G. Barth, and Jurgen Tautz References Index

STRIDULATORY SWEET SOMETHINGS

![Figure][1] A warm summer night in many places is often accompanied by a symphony of insect songs and calls. The chirps of crickets and the buzz of katydids are usually made by a process known as stridulation where the insect scrapes a `pick' across a series of ridges on its body. Male

Review: The Songs of Insects, by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger

Review: <i>The Songs of Insects</i>, by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger

When bugs sing

In The Songs of Insects, Pierce (1949) described the striped ground cricket, Nemobius fasciatus-fasciatus, which chirps at a rate proportional to ambient air temperature. Twenty chirps-per-second tell us it is 31.4 °C; 16 chirps and it is 27 °C. This is a natural example of an auditory display, a mechanism for communicating data with sound. By applying auditory display techniques to computer programming we have attempted to give the bugs that live in software programs their own songs. We have developed the CAITLIN musical program auralisation system Vickers and Alty, 2002b) to allow structured musical mappings to be made of the constructs in Pascal programs. Initial experimental evaluation [Interacting with Computers (2002a,b)] showed that subjects could interpret the musical motifs used to represent the various Pascal language constructs. In this paper we describe how the CAITLIN system was used to study the effects of musical program auralisation on debugging tasks performed by novice Pascal programmers. The results of the experiment indicate that a formal musical framework can act as a medium for communicating information about program behaviour, and that the information communicated could be used to assist with the task of locating bugs in faulty programs.

The Songs of the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe

My own eldest daughter was saying that as a child she thought all families went to the continent of Europe collecting grasshoppers and bush-crickets and if you believe the senior author this was clearly the same for his family. Small children have such sharp ears and their eyes are so near the ground that they make wonderful assistants; this was the norm not the exception. At our age (early sixties) insect songs bring home the lowered sensitivity of human ears and the value of grandchildren! This book represents a lifetime of what he calls (Ephonotaxonomy. With the market for fairly cheap portable recording equipment having created instruments of sufficient quality, calling song can now be recorded, and indeed should be recorded, when taxonomic studies are made. Morphological studies have also improved including those of the male genitalia and stridulatory files where appropriate (especially in Grylloidea, Tettigonioidea and Acridoidea/Gomphocerinae). Compare the simplicity of approach by Dirsh,1956a in which an entire monograph on African catantopini was published without mention of the male internal genitalia (Dirsh, 1956b in the same year publishing a paper on the value of the male genitalia in acridoidea in relation to taxonomy) with that by Otte and Alexander, 1983 in which Australian Crickets are identified using an enlarged suite of characters including sonograms. This sort of detail is now accepted. Ragge and Reynold's book is a good quality reference work with masses of information, but under no circumstances can it be taken as light bedside reading. The complexity in song revealed (an inevitable result of technical advance of our taxonomic procedures) and the fact that we now have means of studying fine (Edialects'within taxa, is an immense step forwards. Ragge and Reynolds lay all the basics for a mass of new research making the question of orthopteroid songs far less daunting for their readers.

Temporal rhythms in the signals of insects

The signals generated by acoustic insects exhibit temporal patterns on several time scales. Annual or seasonal rhythms provide information about temporal changes in insect population size. Knowledge of such changes might be useful in ecological monitoring programs. Circadian or daily rhythms commonly seen in insect signaling are generated by endogenous ‘‘clocks’’ that are reset by environmental cues. Understanding these daily patterns is also important for monitoring insect populations. Within insect populations, the signals of neighbors sometimes show temporal patterns of synchrony or alternation with timing on the order of seconds. The phase relationships among individuals are maintained by acoustic resetting, whereby an individual’s temporal rhythm will change depending on the phase that neighboring signals are received. On still smaller time scales, temporal patterns of insect songs are diverse and generally differ among species. These small-scale patterns are often essential components of mating signals and are used in mate recognition and mate choice.

Geographical variation in acoustic signals of the planthopper, Nilaparvata bakeri (Muir), in Asia: species recognition and sexual selection

Populations of the planthopper Nilaparvata bakeri (Muir) were sampled from the Philippines (Luzon), Indonesia (Bali), India (Bihar) and Sri Lanka (Central Province) from the grass Leersia hexandra (Schwartz), and cultured in Cardiff. Low intensity vibratory signals produced by males and females during mate location and courtship were recorded and analysed. Obvious differences were found between male calling songs of insects from the Philippines and those from the other three areas. Smaller differences were detected between the Indonesian, Indian and Sri Lankan populations. Hybrids between Philippine and Indonesian, and Indonesian and Sri Lankan, insects were obtained freely in the laboratory. Male calls of F 1 hybrids were variable and intermediate between parentals. Mate choice experiments showed no significant assortative mating between the different populations. There was no indication of reproductive isolation and therefore of different biological species. The assumption that different male calling songs necessarily indicate the presence of different biological species is not confirmed in this example.

Geographical variation in acoustic signals of the planthopper, Nilaparvata bakeri (Muir), in Asia: species recognition and sexual selection

Abstract Populations of the planthopper Nilaparvata bakeri (Muir) were sampled from the Philippines (Luzon), Indonesia (Bali), India (Bihar) and Sri Lanka (Central Province) from the grass Leersia hexandra (Schwartz), and cultured in Cardiff. Low intensity vibratory signals produced by males and females during mate location and courtship were recorded and analysed. Obvious differences were found between male calling songs of insects from the Philippines and those from the other three areas. Smaller differences were detected between the Indonesian, Indian and Sri Lankan populations. Hybrids between Philippine and Indonesian, and Indonesian and Sri Lankan, insects were obtained freely in the laboratory. Male calls of F 1 hybrids were variable and intermediate between parentals. Mate choice experiments showed no significant assortative mating between the different populations. There was no indication of reproductive isolation and therefore of different biological species. The assumption that different male calling songs necessarily indicate the presence of different biological species is not confirmed in this example.

A microcomputer-based modulator for simulating insect songs and the response of crickets to an artificial calling song

A maching language program for the 6502 KIM-1 microcomputer to produce a pulsed output for modulating a signal generator is described. The pattern of modulation is easily controlled to produce chirps, trills, and pauses as components of artificial insect songs. In the laboratory, increased locomotory activity of male and female field crickets (Teleogryllus commodus) is induced by an artificial calling song. In the field, crickets of both sexes are attracted to pitfall traps from which the song is broadcast.