Vibrational noise disrupts Nezara viridula communication, irrespective of spectral overlap.

Insects rely on substrate vibrations in numerous intra- and interspecific interactions. Yet, our knowledge of noise impact in this modality lags behind that in audition, limiting our understanding of how anthropogenic noise affects insect communities. Auditory research has linked impaired signal perception in noise (i.

Bridging biotremology and chemical ecology: a new terminology.

Living organisms use both chemical and mechanical stimuli to survive in their environment. Substrate-borne vibrations play a significant role in mediating behaviors in animals and inducing physiological responses in plants, leading to the emergence of the discipline of biotremology. Biotremology is experiencing rapid growth both in fundamental research and in applications like pest control, drawing attention from diverse audiences.

Leafhopper males compensate for unclear directional cues in vibration-mediated mate localization.

Ambient noise and transmission properties of the substrate pose challenges in vibrational signal-mediated mating behavior of arthropods, because vibrational signal production is energetically demanding. We explored implications of these challenges in the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) by exposing males to various kinds of vibrational noise on a natural substrate and challenging them to find the source of the female playback. Contrary to expectations, males exposed to noise were at least as efficient as control males on account of similar searching success with less signaling effort, while playing back male-female duets allowed the males to switch to satellite behavior and locate the target without signaling, as expected.

Functional Diversity of Vibrational Signaling Systems in Insects.

Communication by substrate-borne mechanical waves is widespread in insects. The specifics of vibrational communication are related to heterogeneous natural substrates that strongly influence signal transmission. Insects generate vibrational signals primarily by tremulation, drumming, stridulation, and tymbalation, most commonly during sexual behavior but also in agonistic, social, and mutualistic as well as defense interactions and as part of foraging strategies.

Hay meadow vibroscape and interactions within insect vibrational community.

Our experiences shape our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. The natural vibrational environment (vibroscape) is hidden to human senses but is nevertheless perceived and exploited by the majority of animals. Here, we show that the vibroscape recorded on plants in a temperate hay meadow is a dynamic low-frequency world, rich in species-specific vibrational signals.

Vibrational signalling, an underappreciated mode in cricket communication.

Signalling via substrate vibration represents one of the most ubiquitous and ancient modes of insect communication. In crickets (Grylloidea) and other taxa of tympanate Ensifera, production and detection of acoustic and vibrational signals are closely linked functionally and evolutionarily. Male stridulation produces both acoustic and vibrational signal components, the joint perception of which improves song recognition and female orientation towards the signaller.

Variation in plant leaf traits affects transmission and detectability of herbivore vibrational cues.

Many insects use plant-borne vibrations to obtain important information about their environment, such as where to find a mate or a prey, or when to avoid a predator. Plant species can differ in the way they vibrate, possibly affecting the reliability of information, and ultimately the decisions that are made by animals based on this information. We examined whether the production, transmission, and possible perception of plant-borne vibrational cues is affected by variation in leaf traits.

Substrate-Borne Vibrational Communication in the Vector of Apple Proliferation Disease Cacopsylla picta (Hemiptera: Psyllidae).

Cacopsylla picta (Förster, 1848) (Hemiptera: Pysllidae) is the main vector of apple proliferation, a phytoplasma-caused disease. It represents one of the most severe problems in apple orchards, and therefore, there is a mandatory requirement to chemically treat against this pest in the European Union. Sexual communication using substrate-borne vibrations was demonstrated in several psyllid species.

Female competition for availability of males in insects: the Nezara viridula (Linnaeus, 1758) model.

Multimodal communication in solitary stinkbugs enables them to meet, mate and copulate. Many plant-dwelling species exchange information during the calling phase of mating behavior using substrate-borne vibratory signals. A female-biased gender ratio induces rivalry and competition for a sexual partner.

On the spot: utilization of directional cues in vibrational communication of a stink bug.

Although vibrational signalling is among the most ancient and common forms of communication, many fundamental aspects of this communication channel are still poorly understood. Here, we studied mechanisms underlying orientation towards the source of vibrational signals in the stink bug Nezara viridula (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae), where female vibrational song enables male to locate her on the bean plant. At the junction between the main stem and the leaf stalks, male placed his legs on different sides of the branching and orientation at the branching point was not random.

Mating behavior of Psammotettix alienus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae).

The Wheat dwarf virus, the causal agent of the wheat dwarf disease, is transmitted by leafhoppers from the genus Psammotettix and currently the main protection strategy is based on the use of insecticide treatments. Sustainable management strategies for insect vectors should include methods that are targeted to disrupt reproductive behavior and here we investigated the mating behavior of Psammotettix alineus (Dahlbom 1850) in order to determine the role of vibrational signals in intra-specific communication and pair formation. Both genders spontaneously emit species- and sex-specific calling songs that consisted of regularly repeated pulse trains and differ primarily in pulse train duration and pulse repetition time.

The Effect of Timing of Female Vibrational Reply on Male Signalling and Searching Behaviour in the Leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi.

Sexual communication in animals often involves duetting characterized by a coordinated reciprocal exchange of acoustic signals. We used playback experiments to study the role of timing of a female reply in the species-specific duet structure in the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). In leafhoppers, mate recognition and location is mediated exclusively by species- and sex-specific substrate-borne vibrational signals and a female signal emitted in reply to male advertisement calls is essential for recognition and successful location of the female.

Secondary spectral components of substrate-borne vibrational signals affect male preference.

Animal sexual signals contain information about both compatibility and quality of the signaller, but combined with influence of the signalling medium, the complexity of mate selection makes it difficult to separate different components of this process. We approached the problem of teasing apart different functions of sexual signals by using the planthopper Hyalesthes obsoletus, which uses unimodal vibrational communication, as a model. Vibrational signals are known to encode information about identity in their temporal pattern, while a useful cue for quality may reside in their spectral properties.

The process of pair formation mediated by substrate-borne vibrations in a small insect.

The ability to identify and locate conspecifics depends on reliable transfer of information between emitter and receiver. For a majority of plant-dwelling insects communicating with substrate-borne vibrations, localization of a potential partner may be a difficult task due to their small body size and complex transmission properties of plants. In the present study, we used the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus as a model to investigate duetting and mate searching associated with pair formation.

Manipulating behaviour with substrate-borne vibrations--potential for insect pest control.

This review presents an overview of the potential use of substrate-borne vibrations for the purpose of achieving insect pest control in the context of integrated pest management. Although the importance of mechanical vibrations in the life of insects has been fairly well established, the effect of substrate-borne vibrations has historically been understudied, in contrast to sound sensu stricto. Consequently, the idea of using substrate-borne vibrations for pest control is still in its infancy.

Substrate vibrations during courtship in three Drosophila species.

While a plethora of studies have focused on the role of visual, chemical and near-field airborne signals in courtship of Drosophila fruit flies, the existence of substrate-borne vibrational signals has been almost completely overlooked. Here we describe substrate vibrations generated during courtship in three species of the D. melanogaster group, from the allegedly mute species D.

Exploitation of insect vibrational signals reveals a new method of pest management.

Food production is considered to be the main source of human impact on the environment and the concerns about detrimental effects of pesticides on biodiversity and human health are likely to lead to an increasingly restricted use of chemicals in agriculture. Since the first successful field trial, pheromone based mating disruption enabled sustainable insect control, which resulted in reduced levels of pesticide use. Organic farming is one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture and with the continuously growing public concern about use of pesticides, the main remaining challenge in increasing the safety of the global food production is to identify appropriate alternative mating disruption approaches for the numerous insect pests that do not rely on chemical communication.

Inter-plant vibrational communication in a leafhopper insect.

Vibrational communication is one of the least understood channels of communication. Most studies have focused on the role of substrate-borne signals in insect mating behavior, where a male and a female establish a stereotyped duet that enables partner recognition and localization. While the effective communication range of substrate-borne signals may be up to several meters, it is generally accepted that insect vibrational communication is limited to a continuous substrate.

Primers for identification of type and other archived specimens of Aphrodes leafhoppers (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae).

Primers were developed for leafhoppers of the genus Aphrodes amplifying 84-244 bp fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. DNA was extracted from legs of over 100-year-old archived museum specimens, amplified and sequenced. The fragments contain sufficient variation to unequivocally identify the different species.

Molecular diagnostics reveal spiders that exploit prey vibrational signals used in sexual communication.

Vibrational signalling is a widespread form of animal communication and, in the form of sexual communication, has been generally regarded as inherently short-range and a private communication channel, free from eavesdropping by generalist predators. A combination of fieldwork and laboratory experiments was used to test the hypothesis that predators can intercept and exploit such signals. First, we developed and characterized PCR primers specific for leafhoppers of the genus Aphrodes and specifically for the species Aphrodes makarovi.

Effects of heterospecific and conspecific vibrational signal overlap and signal-to-noise ratio on male responsiveness in Nezara viridula (L.).

Animals often communicate in environments with high levels of biotic noise that arises from the signals of other individuals. Although effects of background biotic noise on mate recognition and discrimination have been widely studied in air-born sound communication, little is known about incidental interference between signallers that use substrate-borne vibrational signals. In this study we investigated the ability of males of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula (L.