Behavioral monitoring of trained insects for chemical detection.
A portable, handheld volatile odor detector ("Wasp Hound") that utilizes a computer vision system and Microplitis croceipes (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid wasp, as the chemical sensor was created. Five wasps were placed in a test cartridge and placed inside the device. Wasps were either untrained or trained by associative learning to detect 3-octanone, a common fungal volatile chemical. The Wasp Hound sampled air from the headspace of corn samples prepared within the lab and, coupled with Visual Cortex, a software program developed using the LabView graphical programming language, monitored and analyzed wasp behavior. The Wasp Hound, with conditioned wasps, was able to detect 0.5 mg of 3-octanone within a 240 mL glass container filled with feed corn ( approximately 2.6 x 10(-5) mol/L). The Wasp Hound response to the control (corn alone) and a different chemical placed in the corn (0.5 mg of myrcene) was significantly different than the response to the 3-octanone. Wasp Hound results from untrained wasps were significantly different from trained wasps when comparing the responses to 3-octanone. The Wasp Hound may provide a unique method for monitoring grains, peanuts, and tree nuts for fungal growth associated with toxin production, as well as detecting chemicals associated with forensic investigations and plant/animal disease.
Rains
Glen C
GC
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Georgia, USA. grains@tifton.uga.edu
Utley
Samuel L
SL
Lewis
W Joe
WJ
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D007659:Ketones / Q000032:analysis* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009812:Odorants; D012903:Smell; D014863:Wasps / Q000187:drug effects*
D007659:Ketones; C017582:3-octanone