Sensoribehavioural integration in insects

所有的动物都通过使用它们的感官系统提供的信息来不断地调整它们的行为。昆虫是一个有价值的模型，可以让我们研究听觉是如何参与这个过程的，因为它们的耳朵很简单，但它们控制着对它们生存至关重要的行为。当飞蛾用耳朵来探测狩猎蝙蝠的声纳信号并激活防御系统(如躲避飞行)时，蝙蝠和蟋蟀必须协调蝙蝠逃避和寻找配偶等其他行为。我的实验室通过录像和超声波记录技术来测量这些行为，以了解这些昆虫的耳朵是如何适应它们的生活方式的。反过来，我研究了某些蝙蝠如何进化出能够绕过它们捕食昆虫的感官防御的技术。我使用有耳(例如吉普赛飞蛾)和无耳(例如帐篷毛毛虫)物种作为两种听觉条件的例子，这两种听觉条件是由蝙蝠的狩猎压力进化而来的。此外，由于飞蛾和蝴蝶有一系列耳朵条件，因此有可能研究听力的演变以及它在现代是如何运作的，以帮助这些昆虫生存。我正在记录不再接触蝙蝠的蛾的感觉系统发生的生理和行为变化。确定动物抵御捕食者的机制对于我们理解昆虫种群是如何被自然力量控制的很重要，其中一些昆虫对人类具有极大的破坏性。由于感觉神经系统的大多数元素对所有动物都是共同的，我相信有可能将我关于蛾的简单网络的工作扩展到其他昆虫的更复杂的系统，并最终扩展到脊椎动物的感觉和运动系统。

All animals continuously adjust their behaviours by using the information provided to them by their sensory systems.  Insects are valuable models that allow us to study how the sense of hearing participates in this process since their ears are simple yet they control behaviours crucial to their survival.  While moths use ears to detect the sonar calls of hunting bats and activate defences such as avoidance flight, katydids and crickets must coordinate bat evasion with other behaviours such as finding mates.  My laboratory measures these behaviours with videotaping and ultrasonic-recording techniques to understand how the ears of these insects are adapted to their lifestyles.  In turn, I study how certain bats have evolved techniques that can circumvent the sensory defences of their insect prey.  I use both eared (e.g., the gypsy moth) and earless (e.g., the tent caterpillar moth) species as examples of the two auditory conditions that have evolved from the hunting pressures of bats.  Since moths and butterflies have a range of ear conditions it is possible to examine the evolution of hearing and how it operates in the present-day to assist these insects in staying alive.  In addition, I am documenting the physiological and behavioural changes that happen to the sensory systems of moths no longer exposed to bats.  Determining the mechanisms whereby animals defend themselves against their predators is important to our understanding of how populations of insects, some of which are extremely destructive to humans, are controlled by natural forces.  Since most of the elements of sensory nervous systems are common to all animals, I believe that it is possible to extend my work with the simple networks of moths to the more complex systems of other insects and ultimately, to those of vertebrate sensory and motor systems.