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Sound transmission and directional hearing in field crickets: neurophysiological studies outdoors

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Abstract

Many studies provide detailed behavioural and neurophysiological information on the ability of crickets to localize a sound source under ideal acoustic conditions, but very little is known about how they perform in real habitats. We investigated directional hearing of crickets in the field using a neurophysiological approach, by recording the activity of the two prominent, bilaterally homologous AN1 neurons simultaneously in a cricket’s habitat. The discharge and latency differences of the pair of neurons in response to conspecific chirps presented at different distances and directions were taken as a measure of directional information. The maximum hearing distance differed between individuals and weather conditions from 1 to 15 m (mean 9.2 m). Although the AN1 activity generally decreased with increasing distance, large fluctuations in the magnitude of responses occurred with distance, indicating that the intensity gradient over distance is often irregular. The directional information provided in the discharge differences of the two neurons also varied with distance. Again, there was no simple directional gradient on the transmission channel; rather, with decreasing distance to the source there were receiver locations providing suprathreshold responses, but no directional information. The consequences for the ability of field crickets to communicate acoustically close to the ground are discussed.

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Abbreviations

SPL:

Sound pressure level

CF:

Carrier frequency

AN1:

Ascending neuron 1

AP:

Action potential

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), project P17986-B06 to HR. We thank Josefa Machold and the “Ökohof” for the use of facilities to perform the outdoor experiments. We also thank Anton Stabentheiner, Institute of Zoology Graz for providing the equipment for recordings of ambient temperature in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK

    Konstantinos Kostarakos

  2. Department of Zoology, Karl-Franzens-University, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Heiner Römer

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  1. Konstantinos Kostarakos
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  2. Heiner Römer
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Correspondence to Konstantinos Kostarakos.

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Kostarakos, K., Römer, H. Sound transmission and directional hearing in field crickets: neurophysiological studies outdoors. J Comp Physiol A 196, 669–681 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0557-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0557-x

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