| William E. Conner |  |
| Professor
of Biology B.A. University of Notre Dame Go to my personal page |
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Areas of Interest Animal Communication, Chemical Ecology, Insect Physiology and Behavior, Bioacoustics |
| William E. Conner | |
| Professor
of Biology B.A. University of Notre Dame Go to my personal page |
|
Areas of Interest Animal Communication, Chemical Ecology, Insect Physiology and Behavior, Bioacoustics |
|
Research My laboratory studies animal communication. We are interested in how communicative signals are produced, travel through the environment, how they are detected, how the receiver responds to them, and ultimately how they have evolved. The colorful tiger moths on which we concentrate provide a diversity of interaction and allow a comparative approach to many evolutionary questions. My students and I combine high-speed infrared videography, 3D-video reconstruction of behavior, classic behavioral observation, analytical chemical methods, electrophysiological techniques, and cladistic analyses to explore communication systems that are often beyond are own sensory capabilities. We are currently studying the following topics:
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Selected Publications A. T. Jordan and W. E. Conner. 2007. Dietary basis for developmental plasticity of an androconial structure in the salt marsh moth Estigmene acrea. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 61:32-37. A. T. Jordan and W. E. Conner. 2007. Morphogenetic effects of alkaloidal metabolites on the development of the coremata in the salt marsh moth, Estigmene acrea (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae). Archives of Insect Physiology and Pharmacology (in press). J. R. Barber and W. E. Conner. 2007. Acoustic mimicry in a predator-prey interaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:9331-9334. W. E. Conner, A. Kerry, J. Barry, and A. Harper. 2007. Has vertebrate chemesthesis been a selective factor in the evolution of arthropod chemical defenses? Biological Bulletin (in press). J. R. Barber and W. E. Conner. 2006. Tiger moth responses to simulated bat attack: Timing and duty cycle. Journal of Experimental Biology 209:2637-2650. S. E. Garrett, W. E. Conner, Lazaro Roque-Albelo. 2007. Alkaloidal protection of Utetheisa galapagensis (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) against an invertebrate and a vertebrate predator in the Galápagos Islands. Journal of Galápagos Research (in press). A. T. Jordan and W. E. Conner. 2007. Dietary basis for developmental plasticity of an androconial structure in the salt marsh moth Estigmene acrea (Drury). Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society (in press). A. T. Jordan. and W. E. Conner 2005. If You’ve Got It Flaunt It: Ingested Alkaloids Affect Corematal Display Behavior in the Salt Marsh Moth, Estigmene acrea (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) Journal of Insect Science 5:1. N. Hristov and W. E. Conner. 2005. Predator-Prey Interactions: Effectiveness of Tiger Moth Chemical Defenses Against Insectivorous Bats. Chemoecology 15:105-113. W. E. Conner and S. J. Weller. 2004. A quest for alkaloids: The curious relationship between tiger moths and plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids. pp. 248-282. In: Advances in Insect Chemical Ecology, R. T. Cardé and J. Millar (eds.). Cambridge University Press. H. D. Douglas, J. E. Co., T. H. Jones, and W. E. Conner. 2004. Interspecific differences in Aethia spp. auklet odorants and evidence for chemical defense against ectoparasites. Journal of Chemical Ecology 30:1921-1935. J. Yack, Timbers, T.A., W.E. Conner, Aniello, A. and F. Schroeder. 2004. Defensive flocculent emissions in a tiger moth Homoeocera stictosoma (Arctiidae, Arctiinae). J Lepidopterists’ Society 58:1-5.
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