Syllabus
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.
Annotation
Please note, the lectures are given in czech language only. The course aims at helping the students to understand sense physiology and 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.