Chapter 45, Problem 2Q

Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The effect that disrupting tymbal organs had on the number of captures. The results if support the hypothesis that in Bertholdia trigona species, the tymbal organ has an echolocation jamming function.

Given:

In the given study, two groups of moths were studied. In one group of moths, the tymbal organs were punctured. In another group of moths, the tymbal organs were left intact. Next, the moths were released into the wild where they are preyed on by bats. Number of attacks and the number of captures were measured for both groups of moths.

Introduction

Bats are natural predators of nocturnal moths. They prey on these moths using echolocation abilities as they emit ultrasonic signals which help them locate the moths. Moths have evolved some forms of behavior to avoid capture by these bats. They either use rapid change in flying behavior like rapid dives or turning away. Alternatively they can use their unique tymbal organs to confuse the bats by producing ultrasonic sounds.