Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS23 In Transition: Biomechanics of Sensory Perception (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Thursday, February 15, 2001, Time: 11:15:00 AM

Location: Acoma/Zuni/Tesuque

Prusak, A, , State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, N.Y., USA, ivy705197@hotmail.com

Caun, M, , University of California at Santa Barbara, Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, Santa Barbara, CA., USA, caun@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Doall, M, H, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook, N.Y., USA, mdoall@life.bio.sunysb.edu

Strickler, J, R, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee/WATER Institute, Milwaukee, WIS., USA, jrs@uwm.edu

Yen, J, , Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biology, Atlanta, GA., USA, jeannette.yen@biology.gatech.edu

HAPPY TRAILS: A BEHAVIORAL BIOASSAY FOR COPEPOD MATING PHEROMONES.

Male copepods of the species Temora longicornis follow mating trails. To begin to identify the pheromone, we developed a behavioral bioassay. Male copepods were exposed to scent trails to document whether they would track the trail. Measurements were taken to quantify: the probability of tracking following encounter, tracking direction, tracking speeds, tracking reversals, flow speed. Trails were created with odours from conspecific female copepods, conspecific males, Acartia, or were created without odour. Either dextran trails flowing down into seawater or seawater-only trails flowing upward into seawater mixed with dextran were used to create the refractive differences needed for Schlieren optics flow visualization. Water was added in a 2-step gravity feed, with filtered odourless seawater slowly filling a small beaker of seawater (< 20 ml) that contained 20-30 copepods, from which the conditioned water slowly flowed through Eppendorf pipette tips (200 uL) into the 4 L observation tank. Ten to 30 males cruised the tank to intersect 2-7 vertical 1-mm diameter trails. Discussion of the role of chemicals, gravity, and flow speed on copepod tracking behavior will be presented.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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