Sexual Communication with Pheromones

Cardé, Ring T.; Baker, Thomas C.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-3368-3_13

Cited by 215 publications

(124 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…The dependence of the calling behavior on the virgin status of the female indicates that the behavior may play a role in mate-finding in this species. It has been shown that, in many insects, calling behavior is associated with the release of volatile sex pheromones (Card6 and Baker, 1984;Krasnoff and Roelofs, 1988). Therefore the presence of calling strongly suggests the existence of a volatile sex pheromone in this cockroach species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The diel periodicity of pheromone release by calling may serve an important role in synchronizing the activity patterns of males and females as well as in species isolation in insects (Card6 and Baker, 1984). The temporal pattern of calling is usually well defined, occurring in either photophase or scotophase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Female calling behavior, which is associated with the release of volatile sex pheromones (Card6 and Baker, 1984), has been documented in many insects but is most prevalent in Lepidoptera. Calling behavior was first described in cockroaches by Willis (1970).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Calling behavior of the female german cockroach,Blattella germanica (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae)

Liang

Schal

1993

J Insect Behav

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Calling behavior of the female german cockroach,Blattella germanica (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae)

Liang

Schal

1993

J Insect Behav

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“…Potential costs of chemical signaling include synthesis, storage, production, and the potential for predators, parasites, or parasitoids to eavesdrop (Dicke and Sabelis 1992). Finding empirical evidence for costs has proven difficult (Johansson and Jones 2007); it is assumed that the costs of pheromone production are low (Cardé and Baker 1984). Recent evidence suggests that pheromone producers pay both fitness and physiological costs (Foster and Johnson 2011;Harari et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mothematics of Female Pheromone Signaling: Strategies for Aging Virgins

Umbers¹,

Symonds

Kokko

2015

The American Naturalist

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Although females rarely experience strong mate limitation, delays or lifelong problems of mate acquisition are detrimental to female fitness. In systems where males search for females via pheromone plumes, it is often difficult to assess whether female signaling is costly. Direct costs include the energetics of pheromone production and attention from unwanted eavesdroppers, such as parasites, parasitoids, and predators. Suboptimal outcomes are also possible from too many or too few mating events or near-simultaneous arrival of males who make unwanted mating attempts (even if successfully thwarted). We show that, in theory, even small costs can lead to a scenario where young females signal less intensely (lower pheromone concentration and/or shorter time spent signaling) and increase signaling effort only as they age and gather evidence (while still virgin) on whether sperm limitation threatens their reproductive success. Our synthesis of the empirical data available on Lepidoptera supports this prediction for one frequently reported component of signalingtime spent calling (often reported as the time of onset of calling at night)-but not for another, pheromone titer. This difference is explicable under the plausible but currently untested assumption that signaling earlier than other females each night is a more reliable way of increasing the probability of acquiring at least one mate than producing a more concentrated pheromone plume. Submitted February 24, 2014; Accepted October 3, 2014; Electronically published February 2, 2015 Online enhancement: appendix.abstract: Although females rarely experience strong mate limitation, delays or lifelong problems of mate acquisition are detrimental to female fitness. In systems where males search for females via pheromone plumes, it is often difficult to assess whether female signaling is costly. Direct costs include the energetics of pheromone production and attention from unwanted eavesdroppers, such as parasites, parasitoids, and predators. Suboptimal outcomes are also possible from too many or too few mating events or near-simultaneous arrival of males who make unwanted mating attempts (even if successfully thwarted). We show that, in theory, even small costs can lead to a scenario where young females signal less intensely (lower pheromone concentration and/or shorter time spent signaling) and increase signaling effort only as they age and gather evidence (while still virgin) on whether sperm limitation threatens their reproductive success. Our synthesis of the empirical data available on Lepidoptera supports this prediction for one frequently reported component of signaling-time spent calling (often reported as the time of onset of calling at night)-but not for another, pheromone titer. This difference is explicable under the plausible but currently untested assumption that signaling earlier than other females each night is a more reliable way of increasing the probability of acquiring at least one mate than producing a more concentrated pheromone plume.

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“…Males are exquisitely sensitive and narrowly tuned to the female-emitted conspecific sex pheromone blend, which usually consists of two or three components (1,2). Slight changes in the ratios of these components can shut off the upwind flight attraction response of males of one species and turn on the response of males from a different species.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%