Circadian rhythms of sexual activities in moths: a review

By A. Groot. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2014

99 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The circadian rhythm of behavior has interested many researchers in the past decades, yet amazingly little is known on the evolution of natural variation in circadian rhythms of behavior. Most research has been focused on identifying the circadian clock genes that form an intricate clock network, which turns out to be more complex with every discovery. To understand the importance of circadian rhythms of behavior in speciation, genetic analyses should be conducted on intra- and interspecific allochronic differentiation of behaviors. Many moth species show specific daily activity rhythms in their sexual activities, some species being sexually active early at night, while others are sexually active late at night. This differentiation has been suggested to have arisen to minimize communication interference between closely related species, as co-occurring and closely related species with overlapping sex pheromone blends show a temporal differentiation in their daily sexual activities. However, the genetic differentiation of this allochronic separation has barely been examined in any species so far. In this review I summarize studies conducted on timing of sexual activities in moths, and which factors have been found to influence this timing, with the aim to identify the gaps and challenges, to unravel the possible contribution of allochronic differentiation of sexual activities in moth speciation.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1efec299d8ade7970adfcf646b649276d9ea8831

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. R. Fox
2. F. Berendse
3. E. Veenendaal
4. M. Parsons
5. D. Evans
6. ROY H. A. Van GRUNSVEN
7. W. H. van der Putten
8. J. van Ruijven

In Genetics

1. F. Berendse
2. R. Fox

In Insect Science

1. F. Berendse
2. R. Fox
3. A. Groot

Citations in the corpus

• Is light pollution driving moth population declines? A review of causal mechanisms across the life cycle (2020, background): “The synthesis and release of female sex pheromones in moths are typically timed using the day-night cycle (Groot, 2014).”
• Artificial night lighting disrupts sex pheromone in a noctuid moth (2015, background): “How the release of PBAN is regulated by light is currently unknown (see also Groot (2014)).”