Insect Pheromones

1. Insect Pheromones Essential Question: What are insect pheromones?

2. Insect Pheromones • One reason for the success of insects is their ability to engage in complex behaviors such as communication. • Their ability to carry out such behaviors is made possible by their jointed appendages, elaborate visual cues, and relatively complex signals. Fireflies use visual cures to communicate to potential mates.

3. Insect Pheromones • A closer lock at how insects communicate with one another reveals that many communicate through sound (for example, male crickets chirp to attract females and to warn off other males) and some communicate by visual flashes of light (for example, fireflies use light to find mates). • But one of the most common forms of communication among insects is chemical c0mmunication involving pheromones.

4. Insect Pheromones • A pheromone is a chemical released by an animal that affects the behavior or development of other members of the same species through the sense of smell or taste. • Many animals – not just insects – communicate with one another using pheromone. Fishes, salamanders and mammals are other animals that make wide use of chemical signals. • Advantages of pheromones include (1) they provide a simple signal that can last for hours or days, (2) they may be transported over long distances, and (3) they take relatively little energy to produce.

5. Insect Pheromones • Studies of insect pheromones show that there are five different types of pheromones that insects use. Listed below are the five categories: • Some pheromones are involved in sexual attraction and maturation. • Some pheromones are involved in controlling the development of individuals in a colony. • Some pheromones are used to attract individuals to feeding or mating sites. • Some are used to warn others of danger or to start an attack. • Some are laid down in a trail to and from a food source.