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Animals are constantly bombarded with stimuli, which presents a fundamental problem of sorting among pervasive uninformative stimuli and novel, possibly meaningful stimuli. We evaluated novelty detection behaviorally in honey bees as they position their antennae differentially in an air stream carrying familiar or novel odors. We then characterized neuronal responses to familiar and novel odors in the first synaptic integration center in the brain–the antennal lobes. We found that the neurons that exhibited stronger initial responses to the odor that was to be familiarized are the same units that later distinguish familiar and novel odors, independently of chemical identities. These units, including both tentative projection neurons and local neurons, showed a decreased response to the familiar odor but an increased response to the novel odor. Our results suggest that the antennal lobe may represent familiarity or novelty to an odor stimulus in addition to its chemical identity code. Therefore, the mechanisms for novelty detection may be present in early sensory processing, either as a result of local synaptic interaction or via feedback from higher brain centers.

Abstract. Oceanic emissions of dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3,DMS) have long been recognized to impact aerosol particle composition andsize, the concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and Earth'sradiation balance. The impact of oceanic emissions of methanethiol(CH3SH, MeSH), which is produced by the same oceanic precursor as DMS,on the volatile sulfur budget of the marine atmosphere is largelyunconstrained. Here we present direct flux measurements of MeSH oceanicemissions using the eddy covariance (EC) method with a high-resolutionproton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-ToFMS)detector and compare them to simultaneous flux measurements of DMS emissionsfrom a coastal ocean site. Campaign mean mixing ratios of DMS and MeSH were72 ppt (28–90 ppt interquartile range) and 19.1 ppt (7.6–24.5 pptinterquartile range), respectively. Campaign mean emission fluxes of DMS (FDMS) and MeSH (FMeSH) were 1.13 ppt m s−1 (0.53–1.61 ppt m s−1 interquartile range) and 0.21 ppt m s−1 (0.10–0.31 ppt m s−1 interquartile range), respectively. Linear least squares regression of observed MeSH and DMS flux indicates the emissions are highly correlatedwith each other (R2=0.65) over the course of the campaign,consistent with a shared oceanic source. The campaign mean DMS to MeSH fluxratio (FDMS:FMeSH) was 5.5 ± 3.0, calculated from the ratio of 304 individual coincident measurements of FDMS and FMeSH. Measured FDMS:FMeSH was weakly correlated (R2=0.15) withocean chlorophyll concentrations, with FDMS:FMeSH reaching a maximumof 10.8 ± 4.4 during a phytoplankton bloommore »period. No other volatilesulfur compounds were observed by PTR-ToFMS to have a resolvable emissionflux above their flux limit of detection or to have a gas-phase mixing ratio consistently above their limit of detection during the study period,suggesting DMS and MeSH are the dominant volatile organic sulfur compoundsemitted from the ocean at this site. The impact of this MeSH emission source on atmospheric budgets of sulfurdioxide (SO2) was evaluated by implementing observed emissions in a coupled ocean–atmosphere chemical box model using a newly compiled MeSHoxidation mechanism. Model results suggest that MeSH emissions lead toafternoon instantaneous SO2 production of 2.5 ppt h−1, which results in a 43 % increase in total SO2 production compared to a casewhere only DMS emissions are considered and accounts for 30% of theinstantaneous SO2 production in the marine boundary layer at the meanmeasured FDMS and FMeSH. This contribution of MeSH to SO2production is driven by a higher effective yield of SO2 from MeSHoxidation and the shorter oxidation lifetime of MeSH compared to DMS. Thislarge additional source of marine SO2 has not been previouslyconsidered in global models of marine sulfur cycling. The field measurementsand modeling results presented here demonstrate that MeSH is an importantcontributor to volatile sulfur budgets in the marine atmosphere and must be measured along with DMS in order to constrain marine sulfur budgets. Thislarge additional source of marine–reduced sulfur from MeSH will contribute to particle formation and growth and CCN abundance in the marine atmosphere, with subsequent impacts on climate.« less

Abstract Independent origins of sociality in bees and ants are associated with independent expansions of particular odorant receptor (OR) gene subfamilies. In ants, one clade within the OR gene family, the 9-exon subfamily, has dramatically expanded. These receptors detect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), key social signaling molecules in insects. It is unclear to what extent 9-exon OR subfamily expansion is associated with the independent evolution of sociality across Hymenoptera, warranting studies of taxa with independently derived social behavior. Here, we describe OR gene family evolution in the northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, and compare it to four additional paper wasp species spanning ∼40 million years of evolutionary divergence. We find 200 putatively functional OR genes in P. fuscatus, matching predictions from neuroanatomy, and more than half of these are in the 9-exon subfamily. Most OR gene expansions are tandemly arrayed at orthologous loci in Polistes genomes, and microsynteny analysis shows species-specific gain and loss of 9-exon ORs within tandem arrays. There is evidence of episodic positive diversifying selection shaping ORs in expanded subfamilies. Values of omega (dN/dS) are higher among 9-exon ORs compared to other OR subfamilies. Within the Polistes OR gene tree, branches in the 9-exon OR clade experience relaxedmore »negative (relaxed purifying) selection relative to other branches in the tree. Patterns of OR evolution within Polistes are consistent with 9-exon OR function in CHC perception by combinatorial coding, with both natural selection and neutral drift contributing to interspecies differences in gene copy number and sequence.« less

Oceans emit large quantities of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) to the marine atmosphere. The oxidation of DMS leads to the formation and growth of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) with consequent effects on Earth’s radiation balance and climate. The quantitative assessment of the impact of DMS emissions on CCN concentrations necessitates a detailed description of the oxidation of DMS in the presence of existing aerosol particles and clouds. In the unpolluted marine atmosphere, DMS is efficiently oxidized to hydroperoxymethyl thioformate (HPMTF), a stable intermediate in the chemical trajectory toward sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and ultimately sulfate aerosol. Using direct airborne flux measurements, we demonstrate that the irreversible loss of HPMTF to clouds in the marine boundary layer determines the HPMTF lifetime ( τ HPMTF < 2 h) and terminates DMS oxidation to SO 2 . When accounting for HPMTF cloud loss in a global chemical transport model, we show that SO 2 production from DMS is reduced by 35% globally and near-surface (0 to 3 km) SO 2 concentrations over the ocean are lowered by 24%. This large, previously unconsidered loss process for volatile sulfur accelerates the timescale for the conversion of DMS to sulfate while limiting new particle formation inmore »the marine atmosphere and changing the dynamics of aerosol growth. This loss process potentially reduces the spatial scale over which DMS emissions contribute to aerosol production and growth and weakens the link between DMS emission and marine CCN production with subsequent implications for cloud formation, radiative forcing, and climate.« less

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS), emitted from the oceans, is the most abundant biological source of sulfur to the marine atmosphere. Atmospheric DMS is oxidized to condensable products that form secondary aerosols that affect Earth’s radiative balance by scattering solar radiation and serving as cloud condensation nuclei. We report the atmospheric discovery of a previously unquantified DMS oxidation product, hydroperoxymethyl thioformate (HPMTF, HOOCH 2 SCHO), identified through global-scale airborne observations that demonstrate it to be a major reservoir of marine sulfur. Observationally constrained model results show that more than 30% of oceanic DMS emitted to the atmosphere forms HPMTF. Coincident particle measurements suggest a strong link between HPMTF concentration and new particle formation and growth. Analyses of these observations show that HPMTF chemistry must be included in atmospheric models to improve representation of key linkages between the biogeochemistry of the ocean, marine aerosol formation and growth, and their combined effects on climate.