Communication by substrate-borne mechanical waves in insects: From basic to applied biotremology

Biotremology is a field of study focused on an ancient way of communication by animals endowed with specialized organs for emission and reception of substrate-borne vibrations. Established as a scientific discipline of its own, formally separated from bioacoustics only recently, biotremology is now rapidly spreading throughout the scientific community, offering valuable cooperation also to numerous other scientific disciplines. Insects, make significant use of substrate-borne vibrational signals and cues for inter- and intraspecific communication, to accomplish many different behaviours. In this chapter, after highlighting the main relations, and differences, between insect acoustic and vibrational communication, we provide a detailed, comprehensive overview of the knowledge and ongoing research in the field of insect biotremology. We particularly emphasise the mechanisms of sensory detection of vibrational signals and cues, and the central neural processing of the received information; the latter especially being discussed in relation to insect auditory processing. In addition, we dedicate considerable attention to the behavioural and ecological aspects of insect vibrational communication, to the methods and instruments of research in neurophysiology and behavioural ecology, as well as the use of acquired basic knowledge in practical applications. Whilst some topics in biotremology, such as the neuronal basis of behaviour, need highly increased research attention, the interest in applied biotremology is rising especially quickly for the high potential offered by substrate-borne vibrations as semiophysicals for pest control. Hence, insects are both the elected study model for basic biotremology research and strongly relevant for agricultural and resource management issues.