Electroreception in air

Question 1

give an example of an electroreceptor

Answer 1

Ampullae of lorenzini,

Question 2

What are very efficient foragers using electroreception?

Answer 2

Bees. electrostatic forces exist between bee and flower. Short distance communication in electric way. pollen seen to jump across gap. flower neg, filled with conductive electrolyte and grounded so have access to infinite electrons from earth. bee relatively pos. as bees move through environment, get more charged.
with electrode on flower, can see current as bee touches flower.

Question 3

why does the ground have a neg charge?

Answer 3

electrical storms build up very high in the atmosphere, creating pos charge, 100-300kv, in ionosphere and gradiented to 100v at the ground. every 1m up increases by 100v. influences small insects

Question 4

why do larger objects have a larger electric field

Answer 4

They are pushing against more force.

Question 5

How can flower electric field be interspecific communication?

Answer 5

electrical activity carries on after the bee leaves flower, causing a change in flower potential. could be a signal for the next bee, alerting it that a bee has just visited and nectar may be low.

Question 6

How can you test electric ecological function?

Answer 6

conduct a bee training experiment.
red 30V ‘flowers’ and blue ground flowers. let bees into arena one by one. 30v have sucrose reward, quinine in ground. after electric turned off, still visited red ones. learned that voltage = reward.

Question 7

how can you see electrical structure of flowers>

Answer 7

spread dust over surface and see where most electrical activity is.
then altered experiment with varying pattern of electric fiend on rewarded and unrewarded flowers.

Question 8

describe sensory integration in bees

Answer 8

bees use a multitude of cues, combine effects of colour, e field and smell.

Question 9

How do spiders use electric fields?

Answer 9

ballooning
silk gets charged as it leaves spinnerets. affected by atmospheric electric gradient.use silk to move through air. has two threads in case of failure ‘safety thread’.
mechanism of dispersal
use mechanoreceptive hairs, trichobothria,

Question 10

How do spiders use electric fields?

Answer 10

ballooning
silk gets charged as it leaves spinnerets. affected by atmospheric electric gradient.use silk to move through air. has two threads in case of failure ‘safety thread’.
mechanism of dispersal
use mechanoreceptive hairs, trichobothria, to measure conditions to see if ballooning will be possible.