Active tactile exploration and tactually induced turning in tethered walking stick insects
Active tactile exploration and tactually induced turning in tethered walking stick insects
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.243190
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发表时间：
2022-03-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Duerr, Volker
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Berendes, Volker;Duerr, Volker
许多动物利用触觉进行主动探索和触觉引导行为，例如近距离定向。在昆虫中，触觉感知通常与运动密切相关，导致协调多个并发的主动运动，包括整个身体的转动、头部的旋转以及触角的搜索或采样运动。本研究旨在将触觉接触事件的序列与所有三种主动运动（身体、头部和触角）的相关变化联系起来。为此，我们选择了印度竹节虫Carausius morosus，这是一种常用于研究运动感觉控制的生物体。在方法上，我们结合了静止、系绳行走期间的行走速度、航向、全身运动学和触角接触序列的记录，以及用于触觉探索的“人造树枝”的受控呈现。我们的结果表明，短至 5 秒的物体呈现事件足以对手杖昆虫的触觉诱导转向行为进行系统研究。动物在 0.5 秒内开始触动人造树枝，并以位置相关的方式改变两个触角的跳动场。这种变化主要是由头景关节运动的系统性变化引起的，并伴随着接触可能性、接触位置和触角采样方向的相关变化。昆虫的转动倾向也取决于刺激位置，而活跃、有节奏的头部旋转不受刺激呈现的影响。我们得出的结论是，接触位置的方位角是竹节虫主动触觉探索和触觉诱导转动的关键参数。
Many animals use their tactile sense for active exploration and tactually guided behaviors such as near-range orientation. In insects, tactile sensing is often intimately linked to locomotion, resulting in the orchestration of several concurrent active movements, including turning of the entire body, rotation of the head, and searching or sampling movements of the antennae. The present study aims at linking the sequence of tactile contact events to associated changes of all three kinds of these active movements (body, head and antennae). To do so, we chose the Indian stick insect Carausius morosus, an organism commonly used to study sensory control of locomotion. Methodologically, we combined recordings of walking speed, heading, whole-body kinematics and antennal contact sequences during stationary, tethered walking and controlled presentation of an 'artificial twig' for tactile exploration. Our results show that object presentation episodes as brief as 5 s are sufficient to allow for a systematic investigation of tactually induced turning behavior in walking stick insects. Animals began antennating the artificial twig within 0.5 s, and altered the beating fields of both antennae in a position-dependent manner. This change was mainly carried by a systematic shift of the head-scape joint movement and accompanied by associated changes in contact likelihood, contact location and sampling direction of the antennae. The turning tendency of the insect also depended on stimulus position, whereas the active, rhythmic head rotation remained unaffected by stimulus presentation. We conclude that the azimuth of contact location is a key parameter of active tactile exploration and tactually induced turning in stick insects.