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How Insects Detect and Avoid Bats

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Neuroethology and Behavioral Physiology

Abstract

From his field studies, Roeder (1962) predicted that green lacewings, like moths, might possess anti-bat behaviors. As a result I started studying green lacewings. My first meeting with Ken Roeder took place in the introductory biology laboratory at Harvard, where I was a teaching assistant. He came over from Tufts to see if it was really true that someone was studying hearing in green lacewings! I had not considered contacting him before I thought I had something to tell him. This was my mistake. Any aspect of bat—insect interactions, be it morphological, physiological, behavioral or evolutionary, was enough to fire his imagination. We discussed details, but it became apparent that, for Roeder, hearing was just one facet in the physiology of behavior. His multifarious approach to moths and ultrasound illustrated the importance of behavior when studying neural mechanisms. After all, selection pressure on the behavior shapes the nervous system; not the reverse.

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© 1983 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Miller, L.A. (1983). How Insects Detect and Avoid Bats. In: Huber, F., Markl, H. (eds) Neuroethology and Behavioral Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69271-0_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-69271-0_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-69273-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-69271-0

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