Techniques in Pheromone Research - HUMMEL HANS E.

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Résumé :
Insects as a group occupy a middle ground in the biosphere between bacteria and viruses at one extreme, amphibians and mammals at the other. The size and general nature of insects present special problems to the student of entomology. For example, many commercially available instruments are geared to measure in grams, while the forces commonly encountered in studying insects are in the milligram range. Therefore, techniques developed in the study of insects or in those fields concerned with the control of insect pests are often unique. Methods for measuring things are common to all sciences. Advances sometimes depend more on how something was done than on what was measured; indeed a given field often progresses from one technique to another as new methods are discovered, developed, and modified. Just as often, some of these techniques find their way into the classroom when the problems involved have been suffi? ciently ironed out to permit students to master the manipulations in a few lab? oratory periods. Many specialized techniques are confined to one specific research laboratory. Although methods may be considered commonplace where they are used, in another context even the simplest procedures may save considerable time. It is the purpose of this series (1) to report new developments in methodology, (2) to reveal sources of groups who have dealt with and solved particular entomo? logical problems, and (3) to describe experiments which may be applicable for use in biology laboratory co~rses.

Sommaire:
1. Bombykol Revisited-Reflections on a Pioneering Period and on Some of Its Consequences.- 2. Techniques for Behavioral Bioassays.- 3. Wind Tunnels in Pheromone Research.- 4. Field Trapping with Attractants: Methods and Interpretation.- 5. Electroantennogram Assays: Rapid and Convenient Screening Procedures for Pheromones.- 6. Combined Gas Chromatography and Electroantennogram Recording of Insect Olfactory Responses.- 7. The Coupled Gas Chromatography-Single Cell Recording Technique.- 8. The Tandem Gas Chromatography-Behavior Bioassay.- 9. Technique and Equipment for Collection of Volatile Chemicals from Individual, Natural, or Artificial Sources.- 10. Techniques for Extracting and Collecting Sex Pheromones from Live Insects and from Artificial Sources.- 11. Techniques for Purifying, Analyzing, and Identifying Pheromones.- 12. The Significance of Chirality: Methods for Determining Absolute Configuration and Optical Purity of Pheromones and Related Compounds.- 13. Tabulations of Selected Methods of Syntheses That Are Frequently Employed for Insect Sex Pheromones, Emphasizing the Literature of 1977-1982.- 14. Survey of Pheromone Uses in Pest Control.- Index 451.