How do insects find their food?
Insects use several methods in searching for their food, and these methods help them to identify specific plants that constitute a food source, either primary (only one specific type) or secondary.[1] The most important of them are as follows:
Insects use chemical signals
Insects use the smell produced by the plant as a result of the chemical interaction of its elements, in addition to the sense of taste to identify the plants that they use as a food ingredients, as all plants have their own chemical smells and tastes that distinguish them from others, which helps insects to be attracted to the plant or not.[1] For example, a mustard plant that contains oils with distinctive aromas and a unique taste is attractive to a forage bug, and it may also feed on cabbage and broccoli because they belong to the mustard family, and this insect may stay away from squash because it has no A taste and smells similar to the mustard plant or what belongs to it. [1] The compatibility of plant chemistry in terms of taste and smell is one of the reasons that affect the agricultural environment, as the frequent landing of insects on certain plants, as the right food element, causes them to leave their eggs on These plants, which means their reproduction, and exposure of plants to pests.[1]
The possibility of insects using visual stimuli
Insects use visual stimuli to obtain their food, as they can determine the color of plants from others, as they go to places that have a green color (representing plants), and not those that are brown in color like soil, and then employ chemical signals, and recognize the taste and smell.[1]
Some insects depend on the silhouettes (the color of the radiant energy) of the host (the plant), for example, aphids are attracted to aging leaves, which have a yellow color (depending on the wavelength of light), while some beetles are attracted to dark colors, and therefore they can be found on tree trunks [2] Here, it can be explained that the stems of trees are painted white, as the white color prevents aphids from nesting in the stems of trees and feeding on them, which leads to their destruction.[2]
Insects learn to find their own food
The physiological state of the insect, the number of previous experiences in obtaining food, and the attempt to link them, are essential factors in the learning process in insects, as they learn how to obtain their food, through their sensory system, which enables them to detect signals emanating from the host plant. Which constitutes a source of food (chemical or visual).[3] In addition to the nervous system that enables it to link sensory inputs with neurons, it is worth noting that insect perception is not fixed, but rather depends on the context in which it takes place.[3] Insects may learn to obtain their food as a result of their preference for the first food they depend on after their birth, as the eggs are often laid on the leaves of plants that constitute the main food for the mother, and as soon as the insect eggs hatch, they will begin to feed on the available source.[1] It should be noted. To him, insects learn to lay their eggs on plants that grow abundantly, and thus give their offspring a greater chance of survival, given the presence of a source of food, so they learn that this plant is their food source.[1]
Insects use their sense of smell
Many plants and animals produce chemicals as a result of natural metabolic activities. After this process, odors are produced by plants and animals, which act as signals for mutual interaction between them. Insects use these odors to determine their food sources and egg-laying sites. Therefore, the sense of smell and the mutual interactions are what Among plants, insects, and smells, are essential in obtaining food.[4]
How some insects get their food
In the following, we explain how certain types of insects get their food:
How do ants get their food
The ant mainly uses the sense of smell to locate its food, and it depends on the antennae that it possesses at the front of the head, as the antennae are considered the effective member in this process, as will enable it to smell materials that humans cannot smell.[5] after employing the sense.[5] By smell, ants use visual power to locate food, and insects, along with plants, maybe a source of their food, as they are carnivores and plants.
How butterflies get their food
Butterflies depend on determining their food at the stage of their growth, and the preferences of the mother for the plants on which the eggs are laid, as they depend in the larval stage on learning and the instinct to obtain their food, so they feed on the plants on which they were found during the egg stage.[6] As for the adult stage, So it stays away from leafy plants and depends on liquids (flower nectar) or is found in rotting fruits or animal dung, which means that it depends on smell.[6]
How fleas get their food
Fleas depend mainly on chemical and physical signals, as they depend on identifying their host (the source of food) as an intrusive animal, on the host's body temperatures, and the movement and vibrations it produces, and often rely on animals as their first host, but they may resort to humans in some cases.[7]