Faeces' odours attract gregarious locust hoppers

Vernier Camille, Barthès Nicolas, Chapuis Marie-Pierre, Foucaud Julien, Huguenin Joris, Leménager Nicolas, Piou Cyril. 2022. Faeces' odours attract gregarious locust hoppers. Journal of Insect Physiology, 143:104454, 10 p.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2022.104454

Article de revue ; Article de recherche ; Article de revue à facteur d'impact

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Url - jeu de données - Dataverse Cirad : https://doi.org/10.18167/DVN1/D3OP8O

Liste HCERES des revues (en SHS) : oui

Thème(s) HCERES des revues (en SHS) : Psychologie-éthologie-ergonomie

Résumé : Collective motion is one of the most impressive common features of gregarious locusts: once formed, bands and swarms get moving for long distances. It was shown that visual perception of neighbours plays a key role in maintaining marching behaviour at a local scale. But at a larger scale, mechanisms underlying band cohesion are less understood. It was shown in several field studies that individuals separated from the band were able to get back to the group, even after being separated since a night. In this context, faeces' odours could be a possible indicator of the recent passage of a group. In this study, we tested if nymphs are attracted by faeces' odours and if this effect is modulated by the age of the faeces. To this end, we conducted individual olfactometric behavioural assays of instar hoppers of desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, exposed to odours of 1 h-old and 24 h-old faeces. We also used Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) to identify odours' volatile organic compounds from faeces. The results of behavioural assays indicated a strong attractive effect of faeces, with no preference for one of the two faecal age classes. Nymphs spent significantly more time in the side of the olfactometer where the faeces' odours came from, and 72.7% of tested individuals chose this side first. We filtered and annotated 11 volatile organic compounds present in both fresh and old faeces in GC–MS analyses, including guaiacol and phenol, which are known to cause an aggregative effect on desert locusts. As the attractive effect lasted over 24 h, band's faeces could still have an attractive effect when individuals are separated from the band since one day. In this situation, latecomers individuals would be able to get back to the group by following the traces of their predecessors.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : Schistocerca gregaria, migration animale, comportement animal, propriété organoleptique, odeur, guaiacol, fèces, expérimentation en laboratoire, comportement grégaire

Mots-clés libres : Schistocerca gregaria, Olfactometry, Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, Behavioral experiment, Band movement, Guaiacol

Classification Agris : L20 - Écologie animale
H10 - Ravageurs des plantes

Champ stratégique Cirad : CTS 4 (2019-) - Santé des plantes, des animaux et des écosystèmes

Agences de financement hors UE : Agence Nationale de la Recherche

Projets sur financement : (FRA) Etude de l'émergence du polyphénisme de phase et des risques associés

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