Inbreeding decreases upwind pheromone : mediated male flight and frequency in female calling behavior in a lab culture of the pyraloid moth Plodia interpunctella

• Main Author: Heydorn, Per
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Högskolan Kristianstad, Fakulteten för naturvetenskap 2018
• Subjects: Plodia interpunctella; Indian meal moth; lab culture; degeneration; inbreeding; Behavioral Sciences Biology; Etologi; Analytical Chemistry; Analytisk kemi
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-18555

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.