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Science 323 (5914): 627-630

Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Serotonin Mediates Behavioral Gregarization Underlying Swarm Formation in Desert Locusts

Michael L. Anstey,1* Stephen M. Rogers,1,2*{dagger} Swidbert R. Ott,2 Malcolm Burrows,2 Stephen J. Simpson1,3

Abstract: Desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, show extreme phenotypic plasticity, transforming between a little-seen solitarious phase and the notorious swarming gregarious phase depending on population density. An essential tipping point in the process of swarm formation is the initial switch from strong mutual aversion in solitarious locusts to coherent group formation and greater activity in gregarious locusts. We show here that serotonin, an evolutionarily conserved mediator of neuronal plasticity, is responsible for this behavioral transformation, being both necessary if behavioral gregarization is to occur and sufficient to induce it. Our data demonstrate a neurochemical mechanism linking interactions between individuals to large-scale changes in population structure and the onset of mass migration.

1 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.
3 School of Biological Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

* *These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: smr34{at}cam.ac.uk

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