R modeling code, high-speed video, sound files and other data from: Long- and short-range bimodal signals mediate mate location and recognition in yellow fever mosquitoes
Description
This data set is supplementary to the manuscript "Long- and short-range bimodal signals mediate mate location and recognition in yellow fever mosquitoes". This publication used high-speed video to demonstrate the wing flash phenomena in both laboratory populations of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and field populations of dipterans. We also tested the attractiveness of flashing LED arrays as stand-ins for mosquito swarms. Additionally, we used LED arrays coupled with earbud speakers as swarm stand-ins. Using the LED arrays, we exposed Ae. aegypti and males of the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, to various frequencies and combinations of flashing lights and acoustic signals. The methods used to produce the data and other files are fully described in the main pulbication. The abstract for the publication is reproduced below. "Mate location and mate selection behavior in diurnally-active yellow fever mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti, take place in mating swarms but the mechanisms underlying swarm formation and long-range detection of females by males remain largely unexplored. In high-speed video recordings we show that incident light reflects off the wings of swarming males, and in behavioral experiments we demonstrate that swarm formation and mate recognition are mediated, in part, by these wingbeat light flashes and by wingbeat sound signals that operate at long and short range, respectively. To test for range-dependent effects of these signals, we presented ‘mating swarms’ in form of two paired 8-LED assemblies that were fitted with micro-speakers and placed either well separated in a large space or side-by-side in a small space. In the large but not the small space, the LED assembly flashing light at the wingbeat frequency of females (665 Hz), and emitting their wingbeat sound (665 Hz), attracted and prompted 5.8-times more alightings by males than the LED assembly emitting constant light and wingbeat sound. In the small space, the LED assembly flashing light and emitting wingbeat sound induced 5.0-times more alightings by males than the LED assembly flashing light without wingbeat sound. The attractiveness of light flash signals to males increased with increasing numbers of signals but did not vary according to their wavelengths (UV or blue). Females responded to light flash signals of males. As predicted by the sensory drive theory, light flashes had no signal function for crepuscular house mosquitoes, Culex pipiens." This dataset contains (1) sound files utilized in experiments, (2) spectra of LEDs and illumination sources used in bioassays, (3) files associated with measurements of mosquito wing spectra, (4) Raw data from each experiment, alongside R code used in statistical analysis, and (5) high-speed video and analysis. Further details can be found in the description or "read me.txt" files associated with each subfolder.