Flower Cues for Hawkmoths: Colour, Place and Odour

Anna Balkenius

Flower Cues for Hawkmoths: Colour, Place and Odour

Anna Balkenius

Forskningsoutput: Avhandling › Doktorsavhandling (sammanläggning)

Sammanfattning

Popular Abstract in Swedish
Blommor använder färg och doft för att locka till sig pollinatörer. Hur använder sig svärmare av dessa olika signaler för att hitta blomman? För att få svar på denna fråga undersöktes två arter av svärmare, en dagaktiv, Macroglossum stellatarum, och en nattaktiv, Deilephila elpenor.

Båda arterna har färgseende och den nattaktiva svärmaren kan skilja på olika färger även i mycket svag belysning. Svärmarna har också färgkonstans vilket gör att de kan identifiera färger även om belysningens färg ändras. Trots att de har färgkonstans kan de utnyttja färgen från belysningen som ett kontextstimulus.

I situationer med många blommor med mycket lika färger lärde sig svärmarna platsen där blomman finns istället för färgen. Däremot fortsatte djuren att välja efter färg då färgerna på blommorna var mycket olika. Platsinlärning verkar använda ett korttidsminne eftersom djuren nästa dag gick tillbaka till att välja färg istället för plats.

Båda arterna kan känna doft. D. elpenor använder doft i större utsträckning än färg när de letar nektar, medan M. stellatarum spontant äter från doftlösa blommor. Det behövdes inlärning för att M. stellatarum skulle välja en blomma utifrån doft. Förmågan att lära sig doft berodde på vilken färg blomman hade. En attraktiv färg gjorde dem mindre benägna att lära sig doften.

Resultaten från alla experiment pekar mot att svärmare använder sig av all information som finns tillgänglig för att hitta blommorna.

Originalspråk	engelska
Kvalifikation	Doktor
Tilldelande institution	Biologiska institutionen
Handledare	Kelber, Almut, handledare
Tilldelningsdatum	2005 juni 2
Förlag	Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University
ISBN (tryckt)	91-85067-17-2
Status	Published - 2005

Bibliografisk information

Defence details

Date: 2005-06-02
Time: 10:00
Place: Helgonavägen 3, Lund

External reviewer(s)

Name: Raguso, Robert
Title: Dr
Affiliation: University of Arizona

---

The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015.
The record was previously connected to the following departments: Zoology (Closed 2011) (011012000)

Ämnesklassifikation (UKÄ)

Zoologi

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title = "Flower Cues for Hawkmoths: Colour, Place and Odour",

abstract = "Flowers use different cues to attract pollinators including colour and odour. How do hawkmoths use these cues to find the flowers? This question was investigated in two species of hawkmoth, the diurnal species, Macroglossum stellatarum, and the nocturnal species, Deilephila elpenor. Both species have colour vision and D. elpenor can discriminate colours under very dim light intensities. Both species of moth also have colour constancy, which allows them to identify colours under changing illuminations. The hawkmoths can not only recognise colours under changed illumination, they can also use the colour of the illuminating light as a context stimulus. When there are many flowers with similar colours, it may be difficult to identify a specific flower by its colour. In this situation, D. elpenor learns the place of the rewarded flower instead of its colour. When the flowers have dissimilar colours, the moth continues to use colour as a cue. Place learning appears to be a short-term effect since the moth returns to selecting according to colour the day after. Both species can detect flower odours. D. elpenor relies on odour more than on colour, while M. stellatarum spontaneously forages from odourless flowers. It requires learning to select a flower based on odour. The ability of the diurnal moth to use odour depends on the colour of the flowers. With a more preferred colour, they are less likely to learn the odour. The results of the experiments all points towards the conclusion that moths do not only use one sensory modality to find flowers ? they use all modalities available to them.",

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N2 - Flowers use different cues to attract pollinators including colour and odour. How do hawkmoths use these cues to find the flowers? This question was investigated in two species of hawkmoth, the diurnal species, Macroglossum stellatarum, and the nocturnal species, Deilephila elpenor. Both species have colour vision and D. elpenor can discriminate colours under very dim light intensities. Both species of moth also have colour constancy, which allows them to identify colours under changing illuminations. The hawkmoths can not only recognise colours under changed illumination, they can also use the colour of the illuminating light as a context stimulus. When there are many flowers with similar colours, it may be difficult to identify a specific flower by its colour. In this situation, D. elpenor learns the place of the rewarded flower instead of its colour. When the flowers have dissimilar colours, the moth continues to use colour as a cue. Place learning appears to be a short-term effect since the moth returns to selecting according to colour the day after. Both species can detect flower odours. D. elpenor relies on odour more than on colour, while M. stellatarum spontaneously forages from odourless flowers. It requires learning to select a flower based on odour. The ability of the diurnal moth to use odour depends on the colour of the flowers. With a more preferred colour, they are less likely to learn the odour. The results of the experiments all points towards the conclusion that moths do not only use one sensory modality to find flowers ? they use all modalities available to them.

AB - Flowers use different cues to attract pollinators including colour and odour. How do hawkmoths use these cues to find the flowers? This question was investigated in two species of hawkmoth, the diurnal species, Macroglossum stellatarum, and the nocturnal species, Deilephila elpenor. Both species have colour vision and D. elpenor can discriminate colours under very dim light intensities. Both species of moth also have colour constancy, which allows them to identify colours under changing illuminations. The hawkmoths can not only recognise colours under changed illumination, they can also use the colour of the illuminating light as a context stimulus. When there are many flowers with similar colours, it may be difficult to identify a specific flower by its colour. In this situation, D. elpenor learns the place of the rewarded flower instead of its colour. When the flowers have dissimilar colours, the moth continues to use colour as a cue. Place learning appears to be a short-term effect since the moth returns to selecting according to colour the day after. Both species can detect flower odours. D. elpenor relies on odour more than on colour, while M. stellatarum spontaneously forages from odourless flowers. It requires learning to select a flower based on odour. The ability of the diurnal moth to use odour depends on the colour of the flowers. With a more preferred colour, they are less likely to learn the odour. The results of the experiments all points towards the conclusion that moths do not only use one sensory modality to find flowers ? they use all modalities available to them.

KW - Zoologi

KW - Zoology

KW - olfaction

KW - vision

KW - learning

KW - multimodal

KW - Macroglossum stellatarum

KW - Hawkmoth

KW - Deilephila elpenor

M3 - Doctoral Thesis (compilation)

SN - 91-85067-17-2

PB - Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University

ER -

Flower Cues for Hawkmoths: Colour, Place and Odour

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