This book reviews the advances in insect neurobiology in the last two decades and highlights the contributions of this field to our understanding of how nervous systems function in general. By concentrating largely on one insect, the locust, this book unravels the mechanisms by which a brain integrates the vast array of sensory information to generate movement and behavior. The author describes the structure and development of the insect brain, detailing the cellular properties of insect neurons and the way they are altered by neurosecretors. Insect movements are fully analyzed at the cellular level to illustrate particular features of integrative processing. Richly illustrated, this volume emphasizes how the brain of an insect can be an informative model for defining basic neural mechanisms, shared by other animals and man.

Intraspecific communication involves the activation of chemoreceptors and subsequent activation of different central areas that coordinate the responses of the entire organism—ranging from behavioral modification to modulation of hormones release. Animals emit intraspecific chemical signals, often referred to as pheromones, to advertise their presence to members of the same species and to regulate interactions aimed at establishing and regulating social and reproductive bonds. In the last two decades, scientists have developed a greater understanding of the neural processing of these chemical signals. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication explores the role of the chemical senses in mediating intraspecific communication. Providing an up-to-date outline of the most recent advances in the field, it presents data from laboratory and wild species, ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates, from insects to humans. The book examines the structure, anatomy, electrophysiology, and molecular biology of pheromones. It discusses how chemical signals work on different mammalian and non-mammalian species and includes chapters on insects, Drosophila, honey bees, amphibians, mice, tigers, and cattle. It also explores the controversial topic of human pheromones. An essential reference for students and researchers in the field of pheromones, this is also an ideal resource for those working on behavioral phenotyping of animal models and persons interested in the biology/ecology of wild and domestic species.

In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin proposed that an ant’s brain, no larger than a pin’s head, must be sophisticated to accomplish all that it does. Yet today many people still find it surprising that insects and other arthropods show behaviors that are much more complex than innate reflexes. They are products of versatile brains which, in a sense, think. Fascinating in their own right, arthropods provide fundamental insights into how brains process and organize sensory information to produce learning, strategizing, cooperation, and sociality. Nicholas Strausfeld elucidates the evolution of this knowledge, beginning with nineteenth-century debates about how similar arthropod brains were to vertebrate brains. This exchange, he shows, had a profound and far-reaching impact on attitudes toward evolution and animal origins. Many renowned scientists, including Sigmund Freud, cut their professional teeth studying arthropod nervous systems. The greatest neuroanatomist of them all, Santiago Ramón y Cajal—founder of the neuron doctrine—was awed by similarities between insect and mammalian brains. Writing in a style that will appeal to a broad readership, Strausfeld weaves anatomical observations with evidence from molecular biology, neuroethology, cladistics, and the fossil record to explore the neurobiology of the largest phylum on earth—and one that is crucial to the well-being of our planet. Highly informative and richly illustrated, Arthropod Brains offers an original synthesis drawing on many fields, and a comprehensive reference that will serve biologists for years to come.

The book is a sequel of a similar book, edited by Randolf Menzel and Alison Mercer, “Neurobiology and Behavior of Honeybees”, published in 1987. It is a “Festschrift” for the 70th birthday of Randolf Menzel, who devoted his life to the topic of the book. The book will include an open commentary for each section written by Randolf Menzel, and discussed with the authors. The written contributions take their inspiration from a symposium on the topic, with all the authors, that was held in Berlin in summer 2010

This volume provides a comprehensive selection of recent studies addressing insect hearing and acoustic communication. The variety of signalling behaviours and hearing organs makes insects highly suitable animals for exploring and analysing signal generation and hearing in the context of neural processing, ecology, evolution and genetics. Across a variety of hearing species like moths, crickets, bush-crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas and flies, the leading researchers in the field cover recent scientific progress and address key points in current research, such as: - How can we approach the evolution of hearing in insects and what is the developmental and neural origin of the auditory organs? - How are hearing and sound production embedded in the natural lifestyle of the animals, allowing intraspecific communication but also predator avoidance and even predation? - What are the functional properties of hearing organs and how are they achieved at the molecular, biophysical and neural levels? - What are the neural mechanisms of central auditory processing and signal generation? The book is intended for students and researchers both inside and outside of the fascinating field of bioacoustics and aims to foster understanding of hearing and acoustic communication in insects.

Insects are ideal subjects for neurophysiological studies. This classic volume relates the activities of nerve cells to the activities of insects, something that had never been attempted when the book first appeared in 1963. In several elegant experiments, Roeder shows how stimulus and behavior are related through the nervous system.

Emphasises on evolutionary aspects of neurobiology in model and non-model invertebrates. This work includes chapters on eye evolution, higher cognitive functions in insects, circadian rhythms and sleep, and more. Its covers techniques that allow manipulation of activity in specified neurons and investigation of behavior.

Comprehensive Overview of Advances in OlfactionThe common belief is that human smell perception is much reduced compared with other mammals, so that whatever abilities are uncovered and investigated in animal research would have little significance for humans. However, new evidence from a variety of sources indicates this traditional view is likely

The discovery of insect neurohormones dates from the earliest experimental in vestigations in insect endocrines, and the matter cannot be discussed without evoking the names of its pioneers-Kopec, Wigglesworth, Fraenkel. Whereas the experiments demonstrated the existence of the first known neurohormones, the formulation of the concept of neurosecretion was of fundamental importance to further progress, and tribute must be paid to Ernst and Berta Scharrer. The recent proliferation of investigations into insect neurohormones has cre ated the need for an overall review of the data. Our knowledge of the subject is voluminous, and the evidence clearly demonstrates that neurohormones playa part in most insect regulatory processes. This book analyzes and synthesizes the data, starting from neurosecretion (i.e., source sites and release modes of neurohormones) and continuing through the various functions in which neurohormones have been shown to be involved: endocrine gland activity; diapause; reproduction; visceral muscle functioning; color change; behavior; water and ion balance; protein, sugar, and lipid metabo lism; and tanning and other processes occurring at the cuticle level. In each chapter, besides the experimental information, technical procedures as well as recent information concerning purification of the particular neurohor mones and their mode of action are reported. Numerous exhaustive tables allow the reader to get an overview of the matter while the major findings of the mo ment are presented in the conclusion of each chapter.