Gadagkar, R (1985) Review of Semiochemistry: Flavours and pheromones. Proceedings of the American Chemical Society Symposium Washington, D.C. USA, (Eds.) T.E. Acree & D.M. Soderlund, Walde de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, (1985). In: The Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, 68 . pp. 72-76.
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PDF (Gadagkar, R. 1988. Review of Semiochemistry: Flavours and pheromones. Proceedings of the American Chemical Society Symposium Washington, D.C. USA, (Eds.) T.E. Acree & D.M. Soderlund, Walde de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, (1985) The Journal of the Indian In)
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Abstract
Semiochemistry, flavours and phe-romones (Proceedings of the American Chemical Society Symposium . Washington DC .. U.S.A . , August 1983) edited by Terry E . Acree and David M Soderlund . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin. 1985, pp. x + 289. OM 160. It wa ·; not very long ago that animals were considered deaf, dumb and virtually blind . K :irl von Frisch. the discoverer of the honey bee dance language shook us out of this megalomania when, not willing to believe that flowers were exquisitely coloured merely for the aesthetic pleasure of human beings, showed that honey bees not only had colour vision but that they could also sense colours such as ultraviolet to which we humans are blind. Frisch along with Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz went on to develop the science of animal behaviour called Ethology . A major triumph of modern ethology has been to show that much .of animal behaviour can be broken down into fixed action patterns that are predictably evoked by extraordinarily simple releaser stimuli. Egg retrieving behaviour in geese which is normally triggered by a real egg lying outside but near the nest will also be released by beer cans , light bulbs, smooth stones or any object ever so vaguely resembling an egg. Herring gull chicks which normally begin to beg at the approach of their mother can be induced to show the same response by appropriately vibrating a pencil as long as it has a bright red spot at its tip like the mother's beak . Male sticklebacks which develop a bright red belly during the reproductive period not only attack their red-bellied neighbours but anything that is red , not sparing even the reflection of passing red postal trucks! The simplicity of the releasers is a matter of great satisfaction because we now know that even single nerve cells are capable of responding to these stimuli. The rieurophysiological hc.:sis of a great deal of behaviour is thus stripped of mystery'.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Journal of the Indian Institute of Science |
| Publisher: | Indian Institute of Science |
| Keywords: | Book Review, Semiochemistry, Pheromones, Flavours |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2021 06:02 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Mar 2021 06:02 |
| URI: | http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/67766 |
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