Dataset Information

A sublethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide disrupts visual processing and collision avoidance behaviour in Locusta migratoria.

ABSTRACT: Neonicotinoids are known to affect insect navigation and vision, however the mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood. A visual motion sensitive neuron in the locust, the Descending Contralateral Movement Detector (DCMD), integrates visual information and is involved in eliciting escape behaviours. The DCMD receives coded input from the compound eyes and monosynaptically excites motorneurons involved in flight and jumping. We show that imidacloprid (IMD) impairs neural responses to visual stimuli at sublethal concentrations, and these effects are sustained two and twenty-four hours after treatment. Most significantly, IMD disrupted bursting, a coding property important for motion detection. Specifically, IMD reduced the DCMD peak firing rate within bursts at ecologically relevant doses of 10?ng/g (ng IMD per g locust body weight). Effects on DCMD firing translate to deficits in collision avoidance behaviours: exposure to 10?ng/g IMD attenuates escape manoeuvers while 100?ng/g IMD prevents the ability to fly and walk. We show that, at ecologically-relevant doses, IMD causes significant and lasting impairment of an important pathway involved with visual sensory coding and escape behaviours. These results show, for the first time, that a neonicotinoid pesticide directly impairs an important, taxonomically conserved, motion-sensitive visual network.

SUBMITTER: Parkinson RH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5430526 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A sublethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide disrupts visual processing and collision avoidance behaviour in Locusta migratoria.

Parkinson Rachel H RH Little Jacelyn M JM Gray John R JR

Scientific reports 20170420 1

Neonicotinoids are known to affect insect navigation and vision, however the mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood. A visual motion sensitive neuron in the locust, the Descending Contralateral Movement Detector (DCMD), integrates visual information and is involved in eliciting escape behaviours. The DCMD receives coded input from the compound eyes and monosynaptically excites motorneurons involved in flight and jumping. We show that imidacloprid (IMD) impairs neural responses to v ...[more]

PMID: 28428563

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Project description:BACKGROUND: Highly migratory species are usually expected to have minimal population substructure because strong gene flow has the effect of homogenizing genetic variation over geographical populations, counteracting random drift, selection and mutation. The migratory locust Locusta migratoria belongs to a monotypic genus, and is an infamous pest insect with exceptional migratory ability - with dispersal documented over a thousand kilometers. Its distributional area is greater than that of any other locust or grasshopper, occurring in practically all the temperate and tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere. Consequently, minimal population substructuring is expected. However, in marked contrast to its high dispersal ability, three geographical subspecies have been distinguished in China, with more than nine being biologically and morphologically identified in the world. Such subspecies status has been under considerable debate. RESULTS: By multilocus microsatellite genotyping analysis, we provide ample genetic evidence for strong population substructure in this highly migratory insect that conforms to geography. More importantly, our genetic data identified an unexpected cryptic subdivision and demonstrated a strong affiliation of the East China locusts to those in Northwest/Northern China. The migratory locusts in China formed three distinct groups, viz. (1) the Tibetan group, comprising locusts from Tibet and nearby West China high mountain regions; this is congruent with the previously recognized Tibetan subspecies, L. m. tibetensis; (2) the South China group, containing locusts from the Hainan islands; this corresponds to the Southeast Asia oriental tropical subspecies L. m. manilensis; (3) the North China group, including locusts from the Northwest and Northern China (the Asiatic subspecies L. m. migratoria), Central China and Eastern China regions. Therefore, the traditional concept on Locusta subspecies status established from Uvarov in 1930s needs to be revised. The three groups of locusts probably have separate evolutionary histories that were most likely linked to Quaternary glaciations events, and derived from different ancestral refugial populations following postglacial expansions. CONCLUSION: The migratory locust populations in China have differentiated into three genetically distinct groups despite high dispersal capability. While this clarified long-standing suspicions on the subspecific diversification of this species in China, it also revealed that the locusts in the vast area of East China are not the oriental subspecies but the Asiatic subspecies, an unexpected substructuring pattern. The distribution pattern of the three locust groups in China may be primarily defined by adaptive differentiation coupled to Quaternary glaciations events. Our results are of general significance both for locust research and for phylogeographical study of flora and fauna in China, illustrating the potential importance of phylogeographical history in shaping the divergence and distribution patterns of widespread species with strong dispersal ability.

Dataset Information

A sublethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide disrupts visual processing and collision avoidance behaviour in Locusta migratoria.

Publications

A sublethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide disrupts visual processing and collision avoidance behaviour in Locusta migratoria.

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