Inbreeding decreases upwind pheromone: mediated male flight and frequency in female calling behavior in a lab culture of the pyraloid moth Plodia interpunctella
2018 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Semiochemicals are chemicals used to communicate. Animals tend to use these e.g. to locate food sources or to find a suitable mate. In this study, the sex pheromone of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella, was analysed. Since this is an economically important species, it is mass-reared in labs and science centers worldwide for experimental purposes. A culture of these moths was brought into the lab at Lund University for studies and has after that served as a model species demonstrating up-wind pheromone-mediated male flight in different courses held by the university. As years went by, the culture got less successful in up-wind flights, most probably because of inbreeding and bottleneck effects, and therefore, a new culture was taken in. This study focuses on using various experiments to see if there was a behavioral and/or physiological difference between the two cultures. Results show a significant difference in behavioral traits (frequency of calling behavior in females and in male up-wind flights) but not in physiological traits (female pheromone production or male antennal response). This study discusses some effects of mass-reared lab cultures.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. , p. 21
Keywords [en]
Plodia interpunctella, Indian meal moth, lab culture, degeneration, inbreeding
National Category
Behavioral Sciences Biology Analytical Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-18555OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hkr-18555DiVA, id: diva2:1239859
External cooperation
Lund University, dep. of Ecology, Pheromone Group, Glenn P. Svensson
Educational program
Biology programme
Presentation
2018-06-07, 20-425, Elmetorpsvägen 15, 291 39 Kristianstad, Kristianstad, 13:00 (Swedish)
Uppsok
Life Earth Science
Supervisors
Examiners
2018-08-272018-08-182018-08-31Bibliographically approved