Lights, Camera, Action:

Cockroach Edition
Effects of Light Stimuli on Periplaneta americana Flight Pattern

Christine Park and Sacha Moufarrej

 Periplaneta americana : The American Cockroach

● Primarily nocturnal
○ active at night, avoid light¹
○ morphological & functional adaptations
○ UV light causes immobility & stress-like reactions
● Sudden light causes an escape response
○ normally: locomotion away from the light source²
 The Cockroach Visual System
● Sensory input influences locomotor behavior
● Light Pathways:³
○ Visual pigment molecule absorbs light
○ Triggers cascade opening cation channel in TRP superfamily
■ Bright light: TRP (Transient Receptor Potential) channel
■ Dim light: TRPL channel
 Escape Response
● 5 steps:⁴
1. Perception of an external stimulus
2. Orientation of the body
3. Initiation of running
4. Running accompanied with course control
5. Cessation of running

● Literature did not indicate that any experiments on flight escape

reactions
Overview of Experiment

Research Question:

Does exposure to discrete light sources affect cockroaches’ flight

patterns?
Overview of Experiment
Hypothesis:

When cockroach are dark adapted, they are repelled by a light

source.

Prediction:

As light is placed on one side of the cockroach specimen, the beat

frequency of the ipsilateral wings will increase more than those of
the contralateral wings, as the animal attempts to fly away from the
light source.
Experimental Methods
● Posted cockroach specimen
● 4 bullet electrodes
● Dark box
● Microscopic spotlight stimulus
○ (maximal intensity)
● Flight patterns recorded:
○ Baseline, dark-adapted
○ With light stimulus
Control
R Forewing

Beat Frequencies
L Forewing (Hz) (Mean, SD):

● 19.571 (2.11)
L Hindwing
● 28.052 (2.24)
● 29.425 (2.53)
R Hindwing ● 28.944 (2.56)
Dark-Adapted Baseline Beat Frequencies
(Hz) (Mean, SD):
R Forewing
● 18.244 (1.67)
● 28.367 (1.55)
L Forewing
● 30.27 (1.34)
● 29.659 (1.69)

L Hindwing Control vs
Dark-Adapted
(t-stat, p-value):
R Hindwing ● 1.56, 0.136
● 0.366, 0.719
● -0.935, 0.362
● -0.737, 0.471
 Beat Frequencies
Left Spotlight (Hz) (Mean, SD):
R Forewing
● 10.881 (0.75)
● 29.073 (1.47)
L Forewing ● 62.117 (7.05)
● 13.002 (2.26)

L Hindwing Dark-Adapted vs.

Left Spotlight
(t-stat, p-value):
R Hindwing
● 12.71, 1.99E-10
● -1.04, 0.311
● -14.06, 3.78E-11
● 18.66, 3.16E-13
Dark Adapted Baseline Pt. 2
R Forewing

Beat Frequencies
L Forewing (Hz) (Mean, SD):

L Hindwing ● 59.976 (1.00)

● 27.408 (2.76)
● 26.2 (2.59)
● 17.575 (1.74)
R Hindwing
 Beat Frequencies
Right Spotlight (Hz) (Mean, SD):
R Forewing
● 10.643 (1.00)
● 28.286 (2.57)
L Forewing ● 27.524 (1.88)
● 14.485 (3.75)

L Hindwing Dark-Adapted vs.

Left Spotlight (t-stat,
p-value):
R Hindwing
● 109.95, 6.59E-27
● -0.74, 0.471
● -1.31, 0.21
● 2.37, 0.03
L Forewing - L Hindwing Phase Differences

2.12 1.1 0.25 0.88 0.61

Discussion
Reasons for discrepancies in results:

● Crushed head during set-up

● Wing malfunctioning
● Sucrose revival failure
Discussion
Adaptation:

● Sensory input greatly influences locomotion

○ Directs flight away from light by controlling wing beats
○ Functionally adapted for darkness
■ Higher chance of survival

Future direction

● Test the sensitivity to specific types of light

 Works Cited and Acknowledgments
1. Zhukovskaya, M., Novikova, E., Saari, P., Frolov, R.V. (2017). Behavioral responses to visual overstimulation in the
cockroach Periplaneta americana L. Journal of Comparative Physiology 203, 1007-1015.

2. Harris, C. Leon (1993). Learning of Leg Position by Cockroaches in Response to Light. Physiology and Behavior 53,
313-316.

3. Saari, P., French, A.S., Torkkeli, P.H., Liu, H., Immonen, E.V. & Frolov, R.V. (2017). Distinct roles of light-activated
channels TRP and TRPL in photoreceptors of Periplaneta americana. The Journal of General Physiology 149,
455–464.

4. Okada, Jiro and Toh, Yoshihiro (1998). Shade Response in the Escape Behavior of the Cockroach, Periplaneta
americana. Zoological Science 15, 831-835.

5. Heimonen, K. et al. (2012) Signal coding in cockroach photoreceptors is tuned to dim environments. The Journal of
Neurophysiology 108, 2641-2652.