Simpson S J, Despland E, Hägele B F, Dodgson T
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Mar 27;98(7):3895-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.071527998.
Desert locusts in the solitarious phase were repeatedly touched on various body regions to identify the site of mechanosensory input that elicits the transition to gregarious phase behavior. The phase state of individual insects was measured after a 4-h period of localized mechanical stimulation, by using a behavioral assay based on multiple logistic regression analysis. A significant switch from solitarious to gregarious behavior occurred when the outer face of a hind femur had been stimulated, but mechanical stimulation of 10 other body regions did not result in significant behavioral change. We conclude that a primary cause of the switch in behavior that seeds the formation of locust swarms is individuals regularly touching others on the hind legs within populations that have become concentrated by the environment.
对独居阶段的沙漠蝗虫身体的不同部位反复进行触碰，以确定引发向群居阶段行为转变的机械感觉输入部位。在进行4小时局部机械刺激后，通过基于多重逻辑回归分析的行为测定法来测量个体昆虫的阶段状态。当刺激后足股骨外侧时，蝗虫行为从独居显著转变为群居，但对其他10个身体部位进行机械刺激并未导致显著的行为变化。我们得出结论，引发蝗虫群形成的行为转变的一个主要原因是，在因环境因素而聚集的群体中，个体之间经常通过后腿相互触碰。
