Uncovering Mechanisms of Behavior: A Study of Two Insect Models

University Of Texas At El Paso, El Paso TX

Investigators

Abstract

Animals face myriad problems in the field. They must find food; they must find shelter; they must survive unfavorable environmental conditions. This research addresses the evolutionary solutions that have been selected in insects to solve these problems at the behavioral and physiological levels. Work to date has examined the behavioral and physiological adaptations that allow the monarch butterfly to avoid its worst problem, namely a harsh northern winter, by heading south in a well-known autumn migration. The butterflies' inducible migratory response "turns on" only in those butterflies that experience autumn conditions. The first goal of this monarch project is elucidating the behavioral and physiological adaptations that have evolved as part of this model insect's long distance migration. The second major goal of this project is to use molecular techniques to address the separateness of the major populations of monarchs described in North America. These populations have been described in the literature as (a) the East Coast population that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, (b) the tiny South Florida breeding population and (c) the California population seen along the West Coast. Genetic similarity or differences between the different sets of butterflies collected at each of six sites will give us a sense of how closely related they are to each other and how much genetic transfer is occurring between sites. These measures will indirectly give us an understanding of the migratory and mating behaviors that underlie the genetic patterns. These are behaviors that have remained undescribed until now because the traditional ethological techniques have been unable to provide the information.