Nomographic correspondence between specialist cell responses, electroantennograms and the probability of behavioral response: the importance of comparable stimuli and a benchmark.

Responses from single receptor cells, electroantennograms (EAGs) and the proportion of upwind flight in a wind tunnel elicited by graded stimulus strengths of (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (Z7-12:Ac) were measured from male cabbage loopers, Trichoplusia ni (Hübner). The approach that was taken to illustrate the relationship between these three measures on the same scale was to express the airborne stimulus strength for all three measures in molar units. A collateral discovery was finding a linear relationship between spiking activity in the receptor cells and the proportion of the first two stages of upwind flight behavior.Two validations corroborate the approach. The first of these demonstrates that, with only three exceptions, there is agreement between behavioral and electrophysiological measures from several laboratories. At the same time, there is a demonstration highlighting the importance of the use of a stimulus benchmark in establishing the relevancy of an experimental stimulus strength to a natural context. The second validation shows that both electrophysiological and behavioral data can be used to estimate the same emission rate of Z7-12:Ac at low dosages from filter paper.