Signals for Survival in the Lives of Crickets

Two behavioral acts of undoubted survival value are predatoravoidance and mate choice. In field crickets both are mediatedby acoustic signals containing high frequency spectral energy.Nocturnally active bats use ultrasonic echolocation signalsto detect and locate their prey, which includes insects thatdisperse by flying at night. Many insects have developed ultrasoundavoidance behaviors in flight, in order to elude bats. In crickets,an auditory interneuron that is excited by ultrasound has beenidentified and shown to initiate the avoidance behavior; itis a putative bat-detector cell. Male field crickets produceacoustic signals during their courtship (females are mute).Courtship song appears to facilitate mating success (copulation),for its absence in courtship diminishes the likelihood of copulation.The possible role of the bat-detector neuron in courtship behavioris considered because it is activated by courtship signals aswell as bat-like ultrasound. The role of behavioral contextshapes the participation of neurons in the neural networks thatunderlie a given behavior.