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Post by Nicklaus Wilcher on Mar 31, 2016 16:09:26 GMT
These are all great points. I'm curious as to whether there is some aspect to cockroach umwelt we are ignoring. For our purposes, using these two papers as resources it seems as if olfactory cues makes the most sense. However, insects are a far cry away from rats-- I can't help but wonder if social structures are facilitated by a sense we have yet to take into account.
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Post by Laura Sirot on Apr 4, 2016 0:06:40 GMT
Well, I'll let one of the students give the details of what we tried this week, but, in short, we didn't have much success with trying to get them to eat sugar water with vanilla or mint extract. We were working with them in a lab that had outside light and was low humidity which might explain why they were not too responsive. However, when we tried to get them to eat from a sugar-water soaked cotton ball with one of the flavors, they started moving around rapidly apparently trying to get out of the container. I tried again today with different conditions: - low light (with a red light bulb), high humidity room - presenting sugar water on a Q-tip - Using banana and strawberry flavored extract The roaches seemed much more interested today and spent time antennating and mouthing the q-tips. I think we could measure their preference by presenting them with Q-tips soaked in flavored sugar water and measuring the amount of time they spend antennating or mouthing each Q-tip. We could then focus on whether we could change this preference by exposing them to the non-preferred flavor over a two day period.
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Post by isaacnordmoe on Apr 4, 2016 19:37:39 GMT
I guess I'll start off then. We wanted to get used to working with the roaches and seeing how they acted to the stimuli we had, vanilla and mint extracts.
We had three groups given different aspects of the roach-stimuli interactions to observe. One group was testing how the roaches reacted to being "marked" with the extract via paintbrush along their wing covers.
My group was tasked with determining how the roach reacted to different container set ups involving filter paper dotted with each extract placed underneath a petri dish with a sugar water soaked cotton ball. In our set up we had an oblong rectangular container with mulch along the bottom, we first tried placing the dishes and papers side by side at one end to allow the roach to approach them of its own accord. It did not, but it appeared more keen to stay on the non mint side of the container. We tried placing a dish and paper on either end length wise so that the roach could only avoid both equally while in the middle, but we also swapped him into a smaller container to do this. I can only assume it did not like this, it was significantly more active in its efforts to get out of the container, but to not be on the mint side of the smaller rectangular container, it was positioned above the vanilla trying simply to get out of the box. I assume it didn't like the vanilla as it made no efforts to investigate it at any point in time but I'm fairly confident in saying our roach did not enjoy the mint smell he was exposed to.
The last group was testing if they would show preference in taste of the extracts. Mixing the extracts with the sugar soaked cotton balls and I'm uncertain if the extracts were actually applied to the roach's mandibles by swab. All I know is that while we were just getting our box set up that there was very suddenly what I could only assume to be a very upset roach at that table. I'm well aware that the smell of the extract is very definitely not representative of its taste.
Members of the other groups could certainly give far better descriptions of their roaches behavior than I so I'll leave it them to describe their experiments in better detail along with the behaviors they observed.
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Post by carrieleigh on Apr 4, 2016 20:15:00 GMT
Isaac gave an overview of the tasks for each group, and being from the same group as him I do not have too much more to add. However, I think it is important to stress that the cockroach we observed never "investigated" either scent, but did seem less repelled by the vanilla. As our TA Mo was mentioning, adult cockroaches often don't drink that much water, an therefore have less of a drive to investigate the novel, potentially repellent smells when they were paired with something that they aren't incredibly drawn to in the first place. That being said, I believe that it would be best to place the two scents on the opposite ends of the enclosure to force the cockroaches to choose one over the other. When we placed them side by side, the roach was able to completely avoid both smells, which is not very helpful in determining preference. Obviously, the experimental set-up will need to be adjusted in a way that "forces" the cockroaches to interact with one scent or the other, because otherwise it will be very difficult to gauge any degree of information transfer.
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Post by Alexa Rojas on Apr 4, 2016 22:25:32 GMT
My group tested to see the effects of putting vanilla or mint extract into sugar water. We had 2 roaches, one in each tank. First, we soaked a cotton ball in sugar water and placed in a petri dish. We did this 4 times: 1 for vanilla, 1 for mint, and both for each roach. Although the tank was small and could barely fit two petri dishes and the roach, we decided to place vanilla and mint in both tanks. Since we soaked the cotton ball in the sugar water before adding extract, we had to add many drops of extract to the cotton ball to coat the entire thing (for vanilla and mint). immediately after we placed the petri dishes into the tanks, each roach started trying to escape. before the petri dishes they appeared to be calm. All their legs were on the ground and they were still. After we added the petri dishes, they started using their front legs to climb the walls and their bodies were vertical. They moved their antennae and legs rapidly. We observed for a few seconds then removed the dishes because they seemed to be in much distress. Soon after, they fell onto all their legs again and were still. For our next trial, we added the extract before we soaked the water in the cotton ball. we added one drop to about 1/2 tbsp of sugar water for vanilla and mint. This time, we only put one petri dish at a time. One roach had the vanilla water and one roach had the mint water. Before, both smells might have not been differentiable in the small space. For this trial, the roaches seemed to not notice the petri dishes and remained still. they did not approach the dishes. Their senses might have been shocked from the previous trial or they might have lost their appetite (can bugs lose their appetite?). For the next experiment, I think the results of our preliminary tests are inconclusive. We only know to not overload their senses by placing 2 dishes in that space and by adding such a large amount of extract.
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Post by linneajohnson on Apr 4, 2016 23:36:10 GMT
Isaac and Carrie provided a great description of our group's observations. I agree with Carrie on the subject of the placement of the petri dishes in the enclosure, because having the scents on opposite sides requires the roach to make a decision. Even if the roach does not consume the sugar water, but simply gravitates toward one side or the other, we will still be able to observe some degree of preference. Another aspect to note about our trials is that we did not give the study animals an acclimation period. Partly by mistake and partly in the interest of time, we placed the scented petri dishes in the containers before putting the roach inside, rather than providing it with a few minutes to adjust to its surroundings. Thus, our findings may have been impacted by the fact that the roaches were still acclimating to their new environment while we performed our observations. In our experiment, we must remember to provide ample time (at least 3 minutes) for the roach to adjust to being in the container before adding the treatments.
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Post by Sydney Virgin on Apr 4, 2016 23:39:02 GMT
Our group analyzed the behaviors of the roaches when the two different extracts(vanilla and mint) were applied to their faces(mandibles also) and then secondly to the back/wings with a paint brush. -When applied to the face the roaches seemed dislike it due to their behavior= First random indirect movement then halt to any full body movements with an increase of rapid movements with their mandibles- the aroma of the extracts may have been too intense to apply so closely to their main olfactory functions. -When applied to the back there was no change in their behavior. -We only held the cockroach when the extract was applied to the face but the application onto the back seems more sustainable and least agitating to the roach while testing. -During this pilot study we wish to proceed to use the extract onto the back instead of the face in the hopes that through olfactory sense another roach will prefer that sent it is exposed to by a chosen roach.
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Post by Ivy Nguyen on Apr 5, 2016 0:33:15 GMT
In our lab, we split into three groups to determine what we could use to introduce the cockroaches to the scents (vanilla and mint). My group examined their behavior when we added vanilla and mint extract to a cotton ball on a plastic plate. The cages these experiments were done in were not very large in size and did not allow for a lot of movement to ensure that the cockroaches would be receptive to the cotton balls. We found that we could only really add a small amount of the extract to the cotton ball after they had already been mixed with water to dilute the scent because when we added the extract straight from the bottle (enough to soak one side of it) to the cotton ball and placed it inside the cage, the cockroaches became extremely distressed and tried to escape. They were basically suffocating. Adding the extract to the cotton ball in this way was too overwhelming for them and so we decided this was not a proficient way to introduce them to these scents.
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Post by Laura Sirot on Apr 5, 2016 1:11:33 GMT
What do you all think of the q-tip idea? This seemed to make the smell less overwhelming and you could even stick it very close to the cockroach without it reacting negatively. It wouldn't force them to choose, but we could over each one to the roach and see how it reacts. I found that putting it right up against the roaches mouth resulted in them exploring the q-tip and usually mouthing it (see my post above). I also did it in a room with high humidity and low light and this may have helped too.
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Post by Mariah Krossman on Apr 5, 2016 1:44:38 GMT
I think the q-tip idea should work very well. It allows for less concentration and as long as we set it the same distance from each cockroach then we should be able to avoid bias. Another thing that I've been thinking about, is how exactly we are going to do the different steps. I think after we expose the cockroach to the other cock roach that we should probably have a clean cage that hasn't had any scent in it previously. My only hesitation is how the movement of the cockroach could potentially affect the study. Does anyone have a suggestion on how we should transport the cockroaches without our fingers (which may have a distinct smell) affecting the study?
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Post by Chris Gumpper on Apr 5, 2016 2:44:55 GMT
I was in the same group as Sydney and since the roaches reacted so negatively to the scent applied to there mandibles, I think we decided to just apply the scent to the roaches by streaking there backs. I was wondering if there was a better way to get the scent on the roaches. one idea I had was just to have the scent on something near each feeding area and having the roaches kind of rub against it? let me know if you guys have different ideas.
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Post by Maxwell Clement on Apr 5, 2016 3:17:13 GMT
We placed both the mint and the vanilla into the the enclosure and they seemed to be extremely distressed. I think moving forward we should apply the mint/vanilla directly onto the body of the cockroach, preferably the head.
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Post by Ashley Padilla on Apr 5, 2016 3:43:28 GMT
I also like the Q-tip idea, since the roaches reacted positively to it and we can make sure the scent sticks to their mouths. I was Isaac and Linnea's group and I also think we should have an acclimation period when we are placing them in the container so they can be more active. I wonder if we would be able to tell by its behavior if it prefers one more than the other.
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Post by Selina Yossef on Apr 5, 2016 4:48:24 GMT
I was in the group that applied the scents directly to the roaches mandibles and backs and observed the reactions. I think the q-tip approach seems the least disturbing to the roaches and will give us the best results.
During the lab however, we discussed how the mint scent was naturally much stronger than the vanilla, and we suggested diluting the mint so it would have the same potency as the vanilla. Do you guys still think this is a good idea?/have any ideas how we would go about diluting it in order to get it to a similar potency?
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Post by Sarah Comstock on Apr 5, 2016 5:10:04 GMT
Alexa, Ivy and Max all basically covered what happened with our roached (desperately tried to escape when saturated cotton balls were added to their containers), and I like the idea of painting the roaches backs with potentially diluted solutions so that we don't disturb them as much, and still ensure that the scent is being presented to the other roaches when they interact. Just using a q-tip might not be powerful enough to bring the smell to the other roaches.
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