Insect behavior
Year 4. Summer semester lecture 26 hours/semester
3 credits
Doc., Dr.Sc. , Jan Ždárek (external university teacher)
Department of Zoology
Annotation
The course aims at helping the students to understand how a number of insect behavioral systems
function, and gaining insight into the ways in which behavioral research can be conducted. It
presumes from the students some basic introduction to entomology and animal behavior.
Syllabus for a special topics course
The course aims at helping the students to understand how a number of insect behavioral systems
function, and gaining insight into the ways in which behavioral research can be conducted. It
presumes from the students some basic introduction to entomology and animal behavior.
Introduction: Basic definitions; fylogeny of behavior; genetics of behavior; taxonomy and
behavior; classification of animal behavior; the role of students of insect behavior in shaping of
basic ethological concepts: historical notes.
Neurological and endocrine basis of insect behavior: Neuroanatomical basis of insect behavior;
principles of neurophysiology and sensory physiology; reflexes and repeated
motor patterns; release of stored programs; mental capacity of insects; hormonal control of
behavior; environmental control of behavior.
Spatial adjustment: Terrestrial, aquatic and aerial locomotion; kinesis; taxis; orientation to
environmental cues: radiant, magnetic, emitted energy; dispersal; migration.
Thermoregulation: Exothermy vs endothermy; heat production; cooling mechanisms; energetic
considerations; physiological and behavioral thermoregulation; behaviors in extreme
environments, thermoregulation in social insects.
Feeding behavior: Classification of feeding patterns: herbivores, carnivores, detritovores, mono,
oligo-, polyphagy; insect-plant relationships: secondary plant substances, biosemants and
antibiotics, mutualism, pollination, symbiosis; food location, recognition and acceptance;
predator-prey relations; social feeding behavior; physiological regulations of feeding.
Chemical communication: Production and reception of chemical signals; semiochemicals:
pheromones, kairomones, allomones, synomones; functions of chemical signals: epigamic
behavior, assembly and aggregation, alarm and alert, spacing, identification, special functions;
information content of chemical signals; methods of study of chemical communication:
electrophysiological (EAG, SCR), behavioral (olfactometers), field studies; practical application:
monitoring traps, male confusion, mass trapping, trap & kill/sterilize, kairomones for attraction of
predators/parasitoids.
Visual communication: Visual receptors: compound eyes, ocelli, stemmata, anatomy &
function; light perception in insects; production of light in insects; visual signaling; functions of
visual signals: aggregation & dispersion, alarm, courtship & territorial signals.
Communication by mechanical signals : Mechanoreception: classification; mechanical sensory
organs: function and role in behavior; sematectonic communication; acoustic communication:
sound production and reception; insect songs: parameters, functions (assembly, epigamic signals,
disturbance & alarm, social sounds).
Defense behavior: Passive defense: crypsis (disruptive coloration, countershading), aposematic
defenses, mimicry (Mullerian, Bathesian, Wasmannian, transformational, automimicry), passive
and systemic chemical defenses; active defenses: startle, attack (defensive substances); group
defense.
Epigamic behavior: Modes of fertilization: external, internal, spermatophores; courtship:
function and complexity; mating systems: evolution of courtship, male competition, territoriality
and dominance parental investment; neural and hormonal control of mating behavior.
Ovipositon behavior and care of young : Ovipara, ovovivipara, larvipara, pupipara; site
selection; brood care: parental care, nesting behavior, involvement of males; special modes of
insect reproduction: polyembryony, parthenogenesis, paedogenesis, morphs formation etc.
Social organization: Types of insect associations: aggregations, groups, societies; advantages of
group behavior; primitive and advanced societies; evolution of insect societies: familial and
communal routes; group selection, kin selection; inclusive fitness; social homeostasis and
concept of superorganism; caste differentiation; social communication; interspecific social
alliances: social parasitism, inquilinism, dulosis, trophic parasitism.
Register of eusocial Arthropods : Arachnids: spiders - egalitarian societies at the threshold of
eusocial organization; Hymenoptera: social wasps - evolution, social hierarchy, biochemical
division of labor; social bees - primitive eusociality, coevolution with angiosperm plants,
advanced social communication, geographical consequences of nesting habits; ants - evolution
and trophic specialization, ecological and economical significance, advanced social interactions;
termites: differences from eusocial Hymenoptera; symbiotic relationships with low
microorganisms; ecological and economical significance.
