2. Behavioral Biology TALKS - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

In our study, we aim to contribute to the understanding of Wolbachia transfer. As a
first step, using a MLST-approach we sequenced five bacterial housekeeping genes to
classify strains that infect bees.
By phylogenetic analyses of Wolbachia strains we tried to distinguish between
vertical and horizontal bacteria transfer. Moreover, by mapping ecological traits on
our tree we tried to identify ecological prerequisites that make bees especially
susceptible to infections. Factors included in our analyses comprise nesting biology
(endogeic or epigeic nesting), lifestyle (solitary, social or kleptoparasitic), pollen
source and also phylogenetic relatedness.
Our findings will help to comprehend the pathways of Wolbachia in general.
����43 Holger Goerlitz
The sensory ecology of a predator-prey community: neural representation of bat
predation risk in moths
Authors: Holger R. Goerlitz 1/2 , Hannah M. ter Hofstede 1/3 , Marc W. Holderied 1
Affiliation: 1 University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, UK; 2 present address:
Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, Sensory Ecology Group, Seewiesen;
3 Present address: University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, UK
Predator cues are some of the most vital types of environmental information for
animals. The threat posed by predators differs between sympatric predators within a
community and also between predator communities. We hypothesized that prey
sensory systems are adapted to the sympatric predator community, differ between
areas with different predator communities and provide a constant representation of
predator threat independent of predator species. The ears of Noctuid moths are an
adaptation to detect the echolocation calls of predatory bats, consisting of two
auditory receptors with frequency-dependent hearing thresholds. We determined
auditory receptor thresholds of 15 moth species for pure tones to obtain audiograms
and also for the echolocation calls of 13 sympatric bat species both in the lab and in
the field, and compared them to potential information provided in the echolocation
calls of bats. We show that bat call frequencies are tightly correlated with four bat
characteristics related to predator threat (flight speed, call intensity, duration, and
interval). The frequency-dependent hearing threshold of moths could potentially
exploit this correlation to functionally link the predation threat posed by different
bats to the elicited neural activity. We discuss different proxies of predation threat
(bat distance, time to detection, and number of calls to detection) and how they are
neurally represented across the whole bat-moth-community.
����44 Monika Greschista
Oviposition is not necessary for long-term memory formation in the parasitoid
wasp Nasonia vitripennis (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea: Pteromalidae)
Authors: Monika Greschista 1 , Alexander Schinko 1 , Steffen Hagenbucher 1 , Daria
Schurmann 1 , Johannes Steidle 1
Affiliation: 1 Universität Hohenheim, Institut für Zoologie, Tierökologie 220c, Stuttgart
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