Measuring Mosquito Spectral Sensitivity Using Electroretinograms
- 1Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada
- 2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, The University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina 29802, USA
- 3Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
- 4Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
- ↵5Correspondence: daniel.peach{at}uga.edu
Abstract
Mosquitoes use a variety of cues to locate resources in the world around them, including olfactory, thermal, and visual stimuli. Understanding how mosquitoes perceive these stimuli is important for understanding and investigating mosquito behaviors and mosquito ecology. Specifically, mosquito vision can be studied in many ways, including by using electrophysiological recordings from their compound eyes. Electroretinograms can be used to characterize the spectral sensitivity of a mosquito species, revealing the wavelengths of light they can perceive. Here, we provide details on how to perform and analyze these recordings.
Footnotes
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From the Mosquitoes collection, edited by Laura B. Duvall and Benjamin J. Matthews.
