Listening to the environment: hearing differences from an epigenetic effect in solitarious and gregarious locusts.

ABSTRACT: Locusts display a striking form of phenotypic plasticity, developing into either a lone-living solitarious phase or a swarming gregarious phase depending on population density. The two phases differ extensively in appearance, behaviour and physiology. We found that solitarious and gregarious locusts have clear differences in their hearing, both in their tympanal and neuronal responses. We identified significant differences in the shape of the tympana that may be responsible for the variations in hearing between locust phases. We measured the nanometre mechanical responses of the ear's tympanal membrane to sound, finding that solitarious animals exhibit greater displacement. Finally, neural experiments signified that solitarious locusts have a relatively stronger response to high frequencie

SUBMITTER: Gordon SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4213621 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature