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53
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Introduction
Biologist, specialized in sexual behaviour and vibrational communication of insects.
Additional affiliations
October 2015 - present
April 2013 - July 2015
January 2012 - March 2013
Education
October 2009 - March 2013
October 1999 - December 2006
Publications
Publications (53)
Mating disruption using mechanical vibrations is a novel idea for integrated pest management of insect pests. We present results of research on using artificial vibrational noise to prevent mate recognition and localization mediated by vibrational signals in the grapevine pest Scaphoideus titanus. Building on the proof of concept published previous...
Although vibrational signalling is among the most ancient and common forms of communication, many fundamental aspects of this communication channel are still poorly understood. Here, we studied mechanisms underlying orientation towards the source of vibrational signals in the stink bug Nezara viridula (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae), where female vibrati...
Communication by substrate-borne mechanical waves is widespread in insects. The specifics of vibrational communication are related to heterogeneous natural substrates that strongly influence signal transmission. Insects generate vibrational signals primarily by tremulation, drumming, stridulation, and tymbalation, most commonly during sexual behavi...
Ambient noise and transmission properties of the substrate pose challenges in vibrational signal-mediated mating behavior of arthropods, because vibrational signal production is energetically demanding. We explored implications of these challenges in the leafhopper Aphrodes makarovi (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) by exposing males to various ki...
Psyllids, or jumping plant lice (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Psylloidea), are a group of small phytophagous insects that include some important pests of crops worldwide. Sexual communication of psyllids occurs via vibrations transmitted through host plants, which play an important role in mate recognition and localization. The signals are species-sp...
Insects rely on substrate vibrations in numerous intra- and interspecific interactions. Yet, our knowledge of noise impact in this modality lags behind that in audition, limiting our understanding of how anthropogenic noise affects insect communities. Auditory research has linked impaired signal perception in noise (i.e., masking) to spectral overl...
The article presents the history of the journal Natura Sloveniae over the 25 years, from 1999–2023, of its publication. The main aim of the journal is highlighted, as well as a brief analysis of the number of contributions and authors, the taxonomic groups covered in the articles, including an overview of the citation success of the articles publis...
Psyllids are small insects that can vector causal agents of serious plant diseases, such as greening in citrus and zebra chip disease in potatoes. Several invasive psyllid species are expanding their geographic range, but there are few pest management tactics available at present. Vibrational communication is a primary intra-specific communication...
Our awareness of air-borne sounds in natural and urban habitats has led to the recent recognition of soundscape ecology and ecoacoustics as interdisciplinary fields of research that can help us better understand ecological processes and ecosystem dynamics. Because the vibroscape (i.e., the substrate-borne vibrations occurring in a given environment...
Our experiences shape our knowledge and understanding of the world around us. The natural vibrational environment (vibroscape) is hidden to human senses, but is nevertheless perceived and exploited by the majority of animals. Here, we show that the vibroscape recorded on plants in a temperate hay meadow is a dynamic low-frequency world, rich in spe...
Many insects use plant-borne vibrations to obtain important information about their environment, such as where to find a mate or a prey, or when to avoid a predator. Plant species can differ in the way they vibrate, possibly affecting the reliability of information, and ultimately the decisions that are made by animals based on this information. We...
Cacopsylla picta (Förster, 1848) (Hemiptera: Pysllidae) is the main vector of apple proliferation, a phytoplasma-caused disease. It represents one of the most severe problems in apple orchards, and therefore, there is a mandatory requirement to chemically treat against this pest in the European Union. Sexual communication using substrate-borne vibr...
In nature, vibrational communication takes place in an ecological context and in a complex vibrational environment that can be a major driver of evolution. Vibroscape is a collection of biological, geophysical and anthropogenic vibrations emanating from a given landscape to create unique vibrational patterns across a variety of spatial and temporal...
Until a few years ago, the concept of mating disruption had been exclusively associated with the use of pheromones to reduce population density of insect pests. Since the early 2000s, a novel approach has been proposed to the scientific community: vibrational mating disruption (VMD). The novelty is the use of disturbance vibrations to disrupt the m...
Improved understanding of the function of insect vibrational signals has spurred development of a vibrational method for mass-trapping the brown marmorated stink bug, which is currently one of the most notorious invasive insect pests. We outline the ongoing research program, which started with the basic description of close-range sexual behaviour t...
This volume is a self-contained companion piece to Studying Vibrational Communication, published in 2014 within the same series. The field has expanded considerably since then, and has even acquired a name of its own: biotremology.
In this context, the book reports on new concepts in this fascinating discipline, and features chapters on state-of-t...
Due to human perceptional bias in favor of air-borne sounds, substrate-borne vibrational signaling has been traditionally regarded as a highly specialized, inherently short-range and, consequently, a private communication channel, free from eavesdropping by sexual competitors and predators. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge pertinent...
Adapting a definition of soundscape, vibroscape is composed from substrate-borne vibrations originating from biological, geophysical and antropogenic sources present in the environment. Anthropogenic vibrations are produced by human activity, while geophysical vibrations result from natural abiotic sources. Biological vibrations result from activit...
We present the first analysis of the mating behavior of the Mosaic Leafhopper Orientus
ishidae (Matsumura) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), an invasive Asian species shown to be
associated with 16SrV phytoplasmas, related to the grapevine disease “Flavescence dorée” (FD). O. ishidae vector capacity for FD was confirmed in different studies and even thoug...
Video showing two Southern Green Stink Bug (Nezara viridula) males searching for a source of a female signal sequence across a stem-stalk crossing. Signals are played using a minishaker attached to the leaf on the left side. Note how the animals pause at the crossing, with legs splayed across different branches.
Despite the increasing number of studies on the use of acoustic stimuli to control agricultural pests, this approach is still theoretical. Many insect pests, in particular hemipterans, use vibrational signals for mating communication, and therefore the application of a control strategy based on acoustic interference is a promising option. The Brown...
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys (Stål 1855), or BMSB, is currently one of the most notorious invasive insect pests worldwide. Its growing economic impact and devastating potential spurred hundreds of studies in the past two decades, yet vibrational communication remained completely ignored.
We approached the question of whether be...
Extended abstract: Apple proliferation (AP) is a phytoplasma-caused disease widespread in many European regions, and represents a serious problem in Italian apple orchards. The etiological agent 'Candidatus Phytoplasma mali' causes symptoms that suggest profound disorders in the normal balance of plant hormones or growth regulators in infected plan...
V zadnjih desetih letih je uporaba Wikimedijinih spletišč v razredu postala vsakdanja nuja. Na Wikiverzi se na začetni strani predmetov študentje vpisujejo v seminarski urnik, učitelj objavlja povezave na učna gradiva in napotke za delo ter povzema izkušnje. Študentje na osebnih straneh dokumentirajo svojo dejavnost, poročajo o domačih nalogah, se...
Vibrational communication is an ubiquitous mode of communication in insects, often mediated by bending waves in herbaceous plant tissues they inhabit. Several new theoretical advances in the past years have been facilitated by the use of sensitive recording equipment (particularly laser vibrometers), computerized data acquisition and analysis, and...
Widespread use of substrate-borne vibrational signals by insects presents a unique opportunity to develop alternative methods of pest control, enabled by better understanding insect behaviour and advances in technology. One such method is currently under development for use against the invasive leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus, a vector of Flavescenc...
Communication with substrate-borne vibrational signals is common in the family Pentatomidae, although this aspect of biology of the invasive pest Halyomorpha halys Stål remains unexplored so far. In the present study, the behaviour of single animals and pairs is observed on a bean plant and a loudspeaker membrane at the same time as recording subst...
Animal sexual signals contain information about both compatibility and quality of the signaller, but combined with influence of the signalling medium, the complexity of mate selection makes it difficult to separate different components of this process. We approached the problem of teasing apart different functions of sexual signals by using the pla...
This review presents an overview of potential use of substrate-borne vibrations for the purpose of achieving insect pest control in the context of integrated pest management. Although the importance of mechanical vibrations in the life of insects has been fairly well established, the effect of substrate-borne vibrations has historically been unders...
The ability to identify and locate conspecifics depends on reliable transfer of information between emitter and receiver. For a majority of plant-dwelling insects communicating with substrate-borne vibrations, localization of a potential partner may be a difficult task due to their small body size and complex transmission properties of plants. In t...
This volume explains the key ideas, questions and methods involved in studying the hidden world of vibrational communication in animals. The authors dispel the notion that this form of communication is difficult to study, and show how vibrational signaling is a key to social interactions in species that live in contact with a substrate, whether it...
Palomena prasina is interesting for the study of vibrational communication within the Pentatomid subfamily Pentatominae, because its host range is limited to woody plants, unlike the better known Nezara viridula, whose vibrational communication is commonly used as a model for the whole family. The vibrational repertoire of P. prasina was described...
The environment, especially the medium for information transfer, is a key factor in
communication of living organisms. We studied properties of a specific acoustic
environment (herbaceous plant substrate) used by the southern green stink bugs
(Nezara viridula) for vibrational communication. Additionally, we were interested
in the influence of other...
Pentatomid bugs communicate using substrate-borne vibrational signals that are transmitted along herbaceous plant stems in the form of bending waves with a regular pattern of minimal and maximal amplitude values with distance. We tested the prediction that amplitude variation is caused by resonance, by measuring amplitude profiles of different vibr...
POSSIBILITIES OF SPREAD AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF THE GREEN STINK BUG (NEZARA VIRIDULA (L.), HETEROPTERA: PENTATOMIDAE) IN SLOVENIA. The bionomics of the herbivorous Pentatomid bug Nezara viridula (L.) and possibilities for biological control of its population in Slovenia by introducing natural enemies of the species are reviewed. N. viridula is a...
Vibrational signalling is a widespread form of animal communication and, in the form of sexual communication, has been generally regarded as inherently short-range and a private communication channel, free from eavesdropping by generalist predators. A combination of fieldwork and laboratory experiments was used to test the hypothesis that predators...
Rjava lipovka (Oxycarenus lavaterae (Fabricius, 1787)) je rastlinojedi polkrilec iz družine gozdnih tekačev (Lygaeidae), ki se prehranjuje z rastlinskim sokom lipovk in slezenovk. Znana je predvsem po velikih gručah, v katere se združujejo osebki med prezimovanjem in letnim mirovanjem in ki jih je razmeroma lahko opaziti ter prepoznati. Njen prvotn...
The effect of vibratory disturbance on sexual behaviour and substrate-borne sound communication of the southern green stink
bug, Nezara viridula L. was studied. Disturbance signals do not change the time N. viridula males need to locate the source of vibratory signals, but decrease the number of males responding with the calling and courtship
song...
Stink bugs of the pentatomid family communicate using substrate-borne vibrational signals transmitted through host plants. Specific signal length and repetition rate are critical for mate recognition and are susceptible to masking by simultaneous conspecific and congeneric signals. We tested whether overlapping conspecific signals interrupt Nezara...
The Grey Heron Ardea cinerea breeds regularly in Slovenia. Between August 2002 and October 2003, we counted Grey Herons on the Savinja river from the train running between Celje and Zidani Most. Grey Herons are permanently present in the area. We also discovered two active colonies near the transect that have not been mentioned in the literature so...
Questions
Question (1)
We found in our recent study (in prep.) an indication that the daylight's brightness suppresses activity of a nocturnal/crepuscular insect, not any other environmental factor. In other words, the period of inactivity matches exactly the peak of brightness, while peaks of temperature/humidity and wind speed don't match as nicely.
Are there any existing studies that we can cite to support this assertion? It's not central to our research question, but would be useful to elaborate. The only references I could find deal with seasonal patterns of activity entrained by daylight duration on longer time scales. But what about diel patterns of activity? Any pointer would be much appreciated.
