Insects

MOTHS

     Unlike the human device for smelling, that is centered around the nasal passages, insects experience smell in a very different way. Insects have olfactory pores, located all over their bodies, that help them to capture scent. The most commonly known scent detector is located in their antennas. But the way that insects communicate through scent can differ between groups of species.

     Moths, for example, have been know to use their attuned sense of smell as a way to mate. Linn,Campbell, and Roelofs (1988) discuss how blends of pheromones are created amongst moths in order to attract a mate and begin courtship. But often times this means that the female will release a blend of pheromones that a group of male moths will have to use in order to find the female moth's location. Male moths can encounter many difficulties in just finding the mate due to the fact that it can be hard to pinpoint a females pheromones when there could be similar pheromones blend being produced by another nearby species. So moths, especially males moths, encounter many obstacles in trying to find a mate. But being able to effectively recognize these specific blends of pheromones is a crucial component in order to compete against other males in finding courtship. The olfactory senses within insects are extremely important. When their olfactory senses are disrupted, by other natural or synthetic pheromones, this can negatively effect the outcome of being able to mate, and ultimately communicate.

      Just imagine how difficult that could be in having to keep hold of at least a minimal amount of the pheromone you are tracking down, otherwise your communication between your future mate is doomed!

      In an article, titled “Talking smells - how animals use their sense of smell to communicate”, it discusses how farmers are able to use pheromones themselves as a way to trick insects into following a pheromone that appears to be natural. So pheromones are used to lure insects, such as moths, into traps in order to remove them without having to use harmful poisons that could affect the environment. It is a way for humans to communicate with insects by appealing to the insect's strong ability to pick up on smells (Prescott, 1995: paragraph 9). 

BEES

     Bees have the capability of producing up to 36 different pheromones, which are used to communicate with other bees as they coordinate on which flowers to pollinate. This is said to be called their “chemical language” because they communicate through the use of smell, rather than just following one another by sight. But not only do bees communicate with one another, plants also communicate with bees in the way that they produce different floral odors. Flowers release chemicals that can be detected by bees, which in turn helps them decide which flowers are most desirable to pollinate.

     But bees do not just look to flowers for pollination. In a scholarly journal titled “Orchid Bees Don't Need Orchids: Evidence from the Naturalization of an Orchid Bee in Florida” (Pemberton &Wheeler, 2006: 1995), it discusses how scent can attract bees even if they do not contain pollen. These male orchid bees are “attracted to the volatile floral fragrances, which they collect from the surfaces of the flowers”. And although no pollination, nectar, or a reward of food is provided, the scent of these orchids are used by bees as “sexual perfumes during their courtship and possibly territorial defense” (Pemberton &Wheeler, 2006: 1995). This just goes to show that scent is used in a variety of ways, and can be used to communicate with female bees (appraisal pheromones).

     So bees communicate through scent while working with fellow bees in the process of pollination, but it can also be used to communicate with female bees, in certain areas, as a way to lure them into mating. 

ANTS

     Ants are not the first insect that came to mind when I was thinking about animal communication. But they are very fascinating in their ability to communicate through scent in order to find food and create chemical trails that their fellow ants can trace. In "Talking smells - how animals use their sense of smell to communicate", the article discusses how ants use the tips of their antennas to follow scents, that have been marked on the ground by ants that came before them. “The ant wipes its abdomen on the ground. This leaves a tiny chemical trail” (Prescott, 1995: Paragraph 10). This tactic is used in order to navigate and communicate with one another. And this chemical smell is often used to guide ants to where food can be found!

    I think that ants are not given the credit they deserve in how complex their communication signals are with one another. It has been said that insect semiochemicals are complex mixtures, and therefore we must look at the interaction between the insect that releases pheromones as well as that of the receiver. Due to this complex pheromone mixture that insects (including ants) release, it is said that this chemical communication system can effect the insect receiver differently depending on the pheromone mixture that is produced. In other words, “the behaviors of the signal sender, as well as that of the signal receiver, depend strongly on the motivational states of the individuals” (Doty, 2010: 192).

      Think of it this way: remember the conduit metaphor from COHI 100? Well the conduit metaphor implies that the sender transmits a message, and the person on the other end simply receives it. But the receiver does more than just receives because they have to process the information and respond in some way (because the message might have been communicated, but not necessarily understood). It is not just one-directional. So in terms of the way insects communicate with one another, we have to look beyond just the simplified version of what pheromones do. Pheromones are molecules that are released by a species, but it works both ways and can create different emotions or reactions when communicating through scent, rather than just seeing pheromones in a unidirectional way.

     Pheromones offer us the ability to see how animals communicate through the sense of smell, but we should also look to how insects-and other animals- are affected when other factors are considered- such as emotional responses or environmental factors- such as synthetic pheromones blurring natural scents.

     Insects use their olfactory senses in so many ways in order to communicate. We can see how scent is used to locate flowers for pollination (for bees), identify female species (for bees and moths), to recognize familiar scents in order to communicate the direction the insect is heading (for ants), and how pheromones play a crucial role in mating.

By Kelly Peters 

Works Cited 

Doty, Richard L. (2010). The Great Pheromone Myth. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 192.

Linn, C.E., M.G. Campbell, and W.L. Roelofs. (1988). Pheromone Components and Active Spaces:  

     What Do Moths Smell and Where Do They Smell It? American Association for the Advancement 

     of Science.

Prescott, Lyle. (1995). Talking Smells- How Animals Use Their Sense of Smell to Communicate. 

     Businnes Library: Find Articles.

Wheeler, Gregory S., and Robert W. Pemberton. (2006). Orchid Bees Don't Need Orchids: Evidence 

     from the Naturalization of an Orchid Bee in Florida. Ecological Society of America