6533b857fe1ef96bd12b4633
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Evidence of stochastic resonance in the mating behavior of Nezara viridula (L.)
Alessandro FiasconaroBernardo SpagnoloStefano ColazzaLuciano CurcioEzio PeriStefano SpeziaP. Lo BueNicola PizzolatoDavide Valentisubject
Stochastic resonanceFOS: Physical sciencesNoise in biological systemQuantitative Biology - Quantitative MethodsSignalsymbols.namesakeDirectionalityDetection theoryPhysics - Biological PhysicsQuantitative Methods (q-bio.QM)Biophysical mechanisms of interactionPhysicsFluctuation phenomena random processes noise and Brownian motionbiologyNoise (signal processing)Noise in biological systems; Biophysical mechanisms of interaction; Fluctuation phenomena random processes noise and Brownian motionCondensed Matter Physicsbiology.organism_classificationSettore FIS/07 - Fisica Applicata(Beni Culturali Ambientali Biol.e Medicin)Electronic Optical and Magnetic MaterialsBiological Physics (physics.bio-ph)Gaussian noiseNezara viridulaFOS: Biological sciencessymbolsThreshold modelBiological systemdescription
We investigate the role of the noise in the mating behavior between individuals of Nezara viridula (L.), by analyzing the temporal and spectral features of the non-pulsed type female calling song emitted by single individuals. We have measured the threshold level for the signal detection, by performing experiments with the calling signal at different intensities and analyzing the insect response by directionality tests performed on a group of male individuals. By using a sub-threshold signal and an acoustic Gaussian noise source, we have investigated the insect response for different levels of noise, finding behavioral activation for suitable noise intensities. In particular, the percentage of insects which react to the sub-threshold signal, shows a non-monotonic behavior, characterized by the presence of a maximum, for increasing levels of the noise intensity. This constructive interplay between external noise and calling signal is the signature of the non-dynamical stochastic resonance phenomenon. Finally, we describe the behavioral activation statistics by a soft threshold model which shows stochastic resonance. We find that the maximum of the ensemble average of the input-output cross-correlation occurs at a value of the noise intensity very close to that for which the behavioral response has a maximum.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-01-01 |