Wa. Vangiessen et Dm. Jackson, RAPID ANALYSIS OF ELECTRONICALLY MONITORED HOMOPTERAN FEEDING-BEHAVIOR, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 91(1), 1998, pp. 145-154
Historically, a bottleneck in the analysis of electronically monitored
insect feeding behavior (EMIF) of homopterans has been the conversion
of raw waveform data into a format that is easy to analyze. Here we p
resent an efficient method for the analysis of EMIF recordings using M
icrosoft Excel, a popular spreadsheet program. Recordings were made wi
th WinDaq, data-acquisition software from Dataq Instruments. Waveform
transitions were saved to file using WinDaq's annotation utility. Subs
equent data analysis of the WinDaq data file was performed using a cus
tom-designed Microsoft Excel EMIF workbook. After experiment-specific
variables are entered and the data ale is imported by the user, a comp
lete analysis is performed automatically. The Excel workbook summarize
s the results and generates an output file for further statistical ana
lysis. Any EMIF data file containing waveform codes and cumulative tim
e (i.e., time from the beginning of the recording, in seconds) can be
analyzed. The new method described in this article was used to analyze
EMIF recordings of 2 homopteran species, Aphis gossypii Clover (Aphid
idae) and Empoasca kraemeri Ross & Moore (Cicadellidae). Identificatio
n and file export took an average of 5 s per waveform occurrence; the
total time required to identify all waveforms and export them to file
will depend on the number of occurrences of each waveform in the EMIF
recording, quality of the recording, waveform variability. level of us
er experience, and computer speed. The subsequent analysis of each rec
ording with the EMIF workbook took between 1 and 2 min. Use of the EMI
F workbook has the following advantages: (1) it can be used to analyze
EMIF recordings of any homopteran species: (2) it is compatible with
any data acquisition software capable of exporting data files containi
ng waveform codes and cumulative time, as well as with data files with
a similar format; (3) it can be used in conjunction with both AC and
DC EMIF systems; and (4) it is fast, flexible, and user-friendly.