Ehemalige AG Integrative Sinnesphysiologie
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Welcome!
The former group "Integrative Sinnesphysiologie" (headed by Professor Dr. Reinhard Lakes-Harlan) studied development, function and anatomy of mechanosensory sense organs of insects, as well as bioacoustics in ecosystems.
You can still find news on outreach of the research and new data reports at this site (see below).
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Lakes-Harlan i.R.
Contact:
email: Reinhard Lakes-Harlan (at) physzool.bio.uni-giessen.de
Postal address:
Institut für Tierphysiologie
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26 (IFZ)
35392 Giessen
Germany
- News
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Insects feel substrate vibrations with their abdomen (June 2025)
New publication: Alt, J. & Lakes-Harlan, R.: Abdominal sensing of substrate vibrations in insect. Zoology (in press)
In grasshoppers, as well as in cicadas, abdominal nerves, including the tympanal nerve, react sensitive to substrate vibrations in addition to the leg nerves. The results show that chordotonal sense organs in the abdomen can significantly contribute to vibration perception in resting insects.
Videos on the fantastic world of cicadas (USA, May 2025, with interview):
Episode 1: https://www.13abc.com/2025/05/20/moment-science-cicadas/
Episode 2: https://www.13abc.com/video/2025/05/28/moment-science-curious-case-cicada-fly-fungus/
Video: Interview on research at the Biological Field Station of the University of Michigan, USA (June 2024):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkn3iLYp-PM
Influence of a solar eclipse on acoustic communication (Arkansas, USA 8.4.2024):
A solar eclipse darkens the sky during daylight and triggers acoustic activity of animals normally active during dusk and night. The audiospectrogram below shows acoustic activity before, during and after the totality with blueish-redish colors. Shortly before the totality (beginning marked "B" and end marked "E") a duskactive cricket started to sing. During the totality a katydid started its acoustic communication signal. Furthermore a call of an owl was registered, as well as calls and music of people (Noise and humans) enjoying the solar eclipse. Shortly after totality, the animals returned to normal daylight behaviour.
Traffic noise disturbs acoustic communication of bushcrickets (Gießen, 2023):
In the audiospectrogram below the acoustic activity of a bushcricket ("Heuschrecke", in the middle) is interrupted by a passing car ("Auto", bottom of the spectrogram).
Pain perception in insects (2023, with interview):
An audioreport by Tanja Munsch from the Bavarian broadcast "BR24 #Faktenfuchs"
https://www.br.de/nachrichten/wissen/faktenfuchs-koennen-insekten-schmerz-empfinden,Tllw7jW
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- Publications
- Research findings in some selected publications of the group