Abstract
The senses provide vital information about how an animal should behave. Vision in particular is important for many animals, as it can help an animal find food, detect danger, or communicate. Insects often have compound eyes with unique structural features that affect the quality of vision, including visual acuity (the sharpness of vision) and sensitivity (the ability to perceive small changes). Size is an important element of visual abilities because it determines how many lenses can fit onto the eye. As an insect’s body grows, the size of the eyes increases, possibly resulting in changes to visual acuity and sensitivity. The Carolina grasshopper is an insect that goes through a dramatic increase in size through five nymphal stages before reaching adulthood, making it a good organism to examine changes in vision across development. Visual abilities can be assessed through equations that use eye size, facet size, and curvature to calculate visual acuity and relative sensitivity. Grasshoppers from four juvenile instars and one adult instar were measured to assess how changes occur throughout development. Structural changes in the eye during development indicate that as grasshoppers mature, the visual acuity of the eye remains intact while the relative sensitivity of the eye improved by 78% from the first measured instar to the adult instar. These changes in vision may result in behavioral changes as the grasshopper matures. Improved vision may allow the grasshopper to better locate food and avoid predation. Studying changes in vision can help to provide greater clarity on how compound eye vision works and can also improve our understanding of behaviors related to visual ability.
Advisor
Brandley, Nicholas
Department
Neuroscience
Recommended Citation
Burlingame, Liliana, "Morphological Measurements of Vision in Juvenile Carolina Grasshoppers" (2024). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 10984.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/10984
Disciplines
Other Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Keywords
visual acuity, vision, grasshoppers, Carolina grasshopper
Publication Date
2024
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2024 Liliana Burlingame