Data From: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay

Behavioral data for eight strains of red flour beetles in three behavioral assays and two commercial lures.

The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is a major pest of facilities where grain is processed because of its ability to find and colonize food resource patches. Traps baited with pheromone and kairomone lures are commonly used to monitor for the presence of insects in warehouses or flour mills, for example. However, two nonmutually exclusive components, environment and genetics, could influence insect responsiveness to volatiles, impacting the efficacy of monitoring. Intraspecific variation in attraction behavior to food and mates is largely unexplored in stored-product insects, but tapping into natural genetic variation could provide a baseline for identifying genetic mechanisms associated with finding resources. Here, we assess eight strains of T. castaneum for variation in response to kairomone- and pheromone-based lures using three behavioral assays: paired choice with no forced air flow, upwind attraction with forced air flow, and movement pattern in an arena with a single odor source. We find strain-specific responses to kairomones and pheromones and evidence for heritability in behavioral responses. However, environmental coefficients for behavioral responses to both lures are high, suggesting that environment, and its potential interaction with genotype, strongly influences behavioral outcomes in these assays. Furthermore, despite the different environmental conditions among the different behavioral assays, we find a correlation for volatile preference among the assays. Our results provide a baseline assessment of natural variation for preference to kairomone and pheromone lures and suggest that careful consideration of behavioral assay is key to understanding the mechanisms of attraction in these stored-product pests.

• Resource Title: Behavior data from petri dish assays with no volatiles.

  File Name: petri_control.csv

  Resource Description: Data from: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay. Data for eight strains, two sexes, and 10 replicates for each strain and sex. No volatiles were used in this part of the experiment. Data were collected using a Sony Handycam and analyzed using Ethovision software. Distance moved is in cm; velocity is cm/s-2. Duration values are in seconds.




• Resource Title: Behavior data for petri dish assay with volatiles.

  File Name: petri_volatiles.csv

  Resource Description: Data from: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay. Data for eight strains, two sexes, and 10 replicates for each strain and sex. Volatile used was either a pheromone or kairomone lure. Data were collected using a Sony Handycam and analyzed using Ethovision software. Distance moved is in cm; velocity is cm/s-2. Duration values are in seconds.




• Resource Title: Data for behavior in wind tunnel assay with and without volatiles.

  File Name: windtunnel_data_final.csv

  Resource Description: Data from: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay. Data for eight strains, two sexes, and 10 replicates for each strain and sex. Volatile used was either a pheromone or kairomone (oil) lure or there was no volatile (control). Top indicates movement toward the wind source or volatile. Left, right, or bottom indicate movement in that direction.




• Resource Title: Behavioral data from y-maze assay with or without volatile.

  File Name: ymaze_data_final.csv

  Resource Description: Data from: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay. Data for eight strains, two sexes, and 10 replicates for each strain and sex. Volatile used was either a pheromone or kairomone (oil) lure or there was no volatile (control). Volatile_Location indicates what volatile was used and if it was in the left or right arm of the y-maze. If final_direction is non_base, the beetle went to the base of the y-maze and did not leave or was located there after 5 minutes.




• Resource Title: Data for repeatability of directions within and across days.

  File Name: repeatability.csv

  Resource Description: Data from: Red flour beetle (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) response to volatile cues varies with strain and behavioral assay. Data for lab strain of T. castaneum. Volatile used was pheromone and kairomone (oil) lures or there was no volatile (control). Beetle ID is an identifier specific to each Block. Direction1 is the first direction on a given day, time1 is the time to make that decision; a total of 4 directions were assessed for each day. Each beetle was repeated for 4 days. Rep represents block and day: 1_1 = block 1, day 1. Beetles are the same throughout the block. Top indicates movement toward the wind source or volatile. Left, right, or bottom indicate movement in that direction.




• Resource Title: Data Dictionary.

  File Name: DataDictionary_RedFlourBeetle.csv