Cargando…

Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour

Conserving populations of environmentally vulnerable insect species requires a greater understanding of the factors that determine their abundance and distribution, which requires detailed knowledge of their population and community ecology. Chemical ecological tools such as pheromones can be used f...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Harvey, Deborah J., Vuts, József, Hooper, Antony, Finch, Paul, Woodcock, Christine M., Caulfield, John C., Kadej, Marcin, Smolis, Adrian, Withall, David M., Henshall, Sarah, Pickett, John A., Gange, Alan C., Birkett, Michael A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6211686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30383860
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206526
_version_ 1783367386249822208
author Harvey, Deborah J.
Vuts, József
Hooper, Antony
Finch, Paul
Woodcock, Christine M.
Caulfield, John C.
Kadej, Marcin
Smolis, Adrian
Withall, David M.
Henshall, Sarah
Pickett, John A.
Gange, Alan C.
Birkett, Michael A.
author_facet Harvey, Deborah J.
Vuts, József
Hooper, Antony
Finch, Paul
Woodcock, Christine M.
Caulfield, John C.
Kadej, Marcin
Smolis, Adrian
Withall, David M.
Henshall, Sarah
Pickett, John A.
Gange, Alan C.
Birkett, Michael A.
author_sort Harvey, Deborah J.
collection PubMed
description Conserving populations of environmentally vulnerable insect species requires a greater understanding of the factors that determine their abundance and distribution, which requires detailed knowledge of their population and community ecology. Chemical ecological tools such as pheromones can be used for non-destructive monitoring of scarab beetle populations, enabling European countries to detect and, in some cases, map the range of some of these species, proving a valuable technique for monitoring elusive saproxylic beetles. In this paper, we investigated the behavioural and chemical ecology of the noble chafer, Gnorimus nobilis L., a model insect species of conservation concern across a Europe-wide distribution, and a red-listed UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. We identified a potential pheromone of adult beetles using electrophysiological recordings, behavioural measurements and field trials in the UK. Gnorimus nobilis is highly unusual in that although both sexes produce, at high metabolic cost, the natural product 2-propyl (E)-3-hexenoate, it only attracts males. This pattern of chemical signalling makes the classification of the compound, based on current semiochemical terminology, somewhat problematic, but in our view, it should be termed an aggregation pheromone as a consequence of the production pattern. Since both sexes emit it, but apparently only males respond positively to it, 2-propyl (E)-3-hexenoate may reflect an intermediate evolutionary stage towards developing into a sex-specific signal. From an applied perspective, our study provides a model for the non-invasive surveillance of cryptic vulnerable insect species, without the need for habitat searching or disturbance, and continuous human monitoring.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6211686
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-62116862018-11-19 Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour Harvey, Deborah J. Vuts, József Hooper, Antony Finch, Paul Woodcock, Christine M. Caulfield, John C. Kadej, Marcin Smolis, Adrian Withall, David M. Henshall, Sarah Pickett, John A. Gange, Alan C. Birkett, Michael A. PLoS One Research Article Conserving populations of environmentally vulnerable insect species requires a greater understanding of the factors that determine their abundance and distribution, which requires detailed knowledge of their population and community ecology. Chemical ecological tools such as pheromones can be used for non-destructive monitoring of scarab beetle populations, enabling European countries to detect and, in some cases, map the range of some of these species, proving a valuable technique for monitoring elusive saproxylic beetles. In this paper, we investigated the behavioural and chemical ecology of the noble chafer, Gnorimus nobilis L., a model insect species of conservation concern across a Europe-wide distribution, and a red-listed UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. We identified a potential pheromone of adult beetles using electrophysiological recordings, behavioural measurements and field trials in the UK. Gnorimus nobilis is highly unusual in that although both sexes produce, at high metabolic cost, the natural product 2-propyl (E)-3-hexenoate, it only attracts males. This pattern of chemical signalling makes the classification of the compound, based on current semiochemical terminology, somewhat problematic, but in our view, it should be termed an aggregation pheromone as a consequence of the production pattern. Since both sexes emit it, but apparently only males respond positively to it, 2-propyl (E)-3-hexenoate may reflect an intermediate evolutionary stage towards developing into a sex-specific signal. From an applied perspective, our study provides a model for the non-invasive surveillance of cryptic vulnerable insect species, without the need for habitat searching or disturbance, and continuous human monitoring. Public Library of Science 2018-11-01 /pmc/articles/PMC6211686/ /pubmed/30383860 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206526 Text en © 2018 Harvey et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Harvey, Deborah J.
Vuts, József
Hooper, Antony
Finch, Paul
Woodcock, Christine M.
Caulfield, John C.
Kadej, Marcin
Smolis, Adrian
Withall, David M.
Henshall, Sarah
Pickett, John A.
Gange, Alan C.
Birkett, Michael A.
Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title_full Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title_fullStr Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title_full_unstemmed Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title_short Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
title_sort environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6211686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30383860
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206526
work_keys_str_mv AT harveydeborahj environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT vutsjozsef environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT hooperantony environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT finchpaul environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT woodcockchristinem environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT caulfieldjohnc environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT kadejmarcin environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT smolisadrian environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT withalldavidm environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT henshallsarah environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT pickettjohna environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT gangealanc environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour
AT birkettmichaela environmentallyvulnerablenoblechafersexhibitunusualpheromonemediatedbehaviour